Prasanna, Vaas in record stand

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Two maiden centuries from wicket keeper batsman Prasanna Jayawardena and all rounder Chaminda Vaas set the stage for another massive victory for Sri Lanka after the second day of their first test match against the touring Bangladesh team continued at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.

This was after skipper Mahela Jayawardena and opener Michael van Dort had also reached the three figure mark earlier as the home side produced four centurions in an innings for the first time.

As a result the Lankans piled up a mammoth 577 for 6 wickets declared in their first innings which gave them a lead of 488 runs. Bangladesh who made just 89 runs in their first innings reached three for no loss in their second attempt from the three overs which were possible before the scheduled close of play.

This massive score was also Sri Lanka's highest total against Bangladesh as they shattered the previous best of 555 for 5 which they made at this same venue in September 2001. In addition Prasanna Jayawardena and Chaminda Vaas established a new seventh wicket partnership while putting on 223 runs that bettered the previous mark of 194 runs set up by Hashan Tillekeratne and Thilan Samaraweera against India in 2001.

Jaywardena's performance was even more significant as he became Sri Lanka's sixth wicket keeper batsman to score a hundred after the efforts of Amal Silva, Brendon Kuruppu, Hashan Tillekeratne, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Kumar Sangakkara.

Prasanna Jayawardena who had never gone pass the 40 run mark in his previous nine test matches grabbed the opportunity to steal the limelight and remained unbeaten on a magnificent 120 with ten boundaries having occupied the crease for just over four hours.

The right hander displayed a tremendous amount of concentration and determination and frustrated the opposition for more than two sessions with his solid defensive tactics.

His first fifty included six fours but thereafter he dropped anchor and decided to build up a long innings before completing the magical three figure mark with a single to mid on.

Paceman Chaminda Vaas a veteran of 97 matches too played well according to the situation and made batting look much easier. He soon realised that the conditions were ideal for batting and made the maximum to complete his maiden test hundred with the help of seven boundaries and 169 deliveries having batted for 213 minutes.

Earlier opener Michael van Dort went on to hit a splendid 117 runs with seven boundaries and three sixes.

The left hander continued from where he left on the opening day and played some elegant strokes and look set for big score. He hoisted two consecutive sixes off left arm spinner Razzak to move to 99 and then collected two runs in the same over to reach his third Test century.

But after a marathon 316 minutes of batting Van Dort lost his concentration and was snapped up by Nafeez at forward short leg from the bowling of left arm spinner Mohammad Rafique. Van Dort and Tillekeratne Dilshan added 117 runs for the fourth wicket in just 102 minutes.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardena who retired hurt on Monday came back immediately and completed his 17th test hundred from 158 balls and 127 minutes with one six and fifteen boundaries. However Tillekeratne Dilshan who was well in sight of completing a hundred was unfortunately run out for a well compiled 79 which was studded with one six and eight boundaries.

Mahela Jayawardena went on to hit a top score of 127 from 159 deliveries with one six and eighteen boundaries.

The right hander took over as Sri Lanka's second highest run getter with a total of 6,416 runs in 86 test matches behind only Sanath Jayasuriya's record tally of 6,791 runs.

Sri Lanka looked like folding up for under four hundred runs at that stage but Prasanna Jayawardena and Chaminda Vaas had different ideas as they battled along quite beautifully to make it a memorable outing.

BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS 89 (M. Muralitharan 5-15, D. Fernando 3-33)

SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS
M. Vandort c Nafees b Rafique		117
M. Warnapura lbw b Hossain		 00
K. Sangakkara c Mashud b Hossain	 06
M. Jayawardene c Razzak b Mortaza	127
C. Silva c Mortaza b Razzak		 01
T. Dilshan run out	 		 79
P. Jayawardene not out			120
C. Vaas not out				100
Extras: (b6, lb7, nb12, w2)		 27
TOTAL (for six wickets declared)	577

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Warnapura), 2-14 (Sangakkara), 3-187 (Silva),
4-304 (Vandort), 5-320 (Dilshan), 6-354 (M. Jayawardene).
BOWLING: Mortaza 19-2-72-1 (nb8, w1), Hossain 18-0-102-2 (nb1, w1),
Razzak 30-2-109-1, Rafique 28.5-1-138-1 (nb2), Hasan 16-0-57-0 (nb1),
Ashraful 13-0-52-0, Saleh 3-0-12-0, Bashar 8-0-22-0.

BANGLADESH - 2ND INNINGS
Javed Omar not out			03
Shahriar Nafees not out			00
TOTAL (for no loss)			03

BOWLING: Vaas 1-0-1-0, Malinga 1-0-1-0, Muralitharan 1-0-1-0.