Murali heroics on home soil
Chris Dhambarage reporting from Asgiriya
CRICKET: Sri Lanka's ace off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan
moved closer towards becoming the most successful bowler before heavy
rain spoiled the last two sessions of the second days play of the third
and final Test match against the touring Bangladesh team continued at
the Asgiriya International Stadium in Kandy yesterday.
Muralitharan bagged his 59th five wicket haul in Test cricket and
also completed a century of wickets on his home ground as Bangladesh
were bowled out for a modest 131 runs in their first innings. The 35
year old is now just 14 wickets short of equalling the World record held
by the retired Australian spinner Shane Warne.
However play was severely disrupted during the remaining two sessions
with only 8.4 overs been possible during which time Sri Lanka progressed
to 30 for no loss with Upul Tharanga and Michael van Dort opening the
innings.
Muralitharan's performance was even more significant as he ran
through the Bangladesh late order batting line up during a sensational
six over spell last morning. But the initial breakthrough was done by
the left arm pacemen Sujeewa de Silva who made a fine impact while
striking twice during his opening spell.
De Silva making a comeback into Test cricket after a lapse of five
years bowled his heart out to rattle the Bangladesh batsmen while
picking up two important wickets. He made the ball move away from the
batsmen on a number of occasions and was rewarded with the prize wickets
of Mohamed Ashraful and Tushar Imran.
Ashraful the Bangladesh captain along with Tushar Imran who was flown
in ahead of the one day series were beginning to build up a decent
partnership although they were not in a position to dominate the
proceedings. But Sujeewa de Silva was bowling with a lot of purpose and
more importantly he was hitting the right areas which was causing a
great amount of concern to the batsmen.
The left arm paceman of course had limited opportunities on the
opening day where play was restricted to only 29 overs. But yesterday he
really got his act together well and created more opportunities with a
great spell of seam bowling.
The manner in which he dismissed Ashraful and Imran were simply
outstanding because both batsmen were well set having resumed from their
overnight total of 72 for 4. Asharaful who earlier survived a close leg
before wicket decision off Muralitharan had three boundaries from 51
deliveries and Imran also struck the same number of fours from 40
deliveries.
Their departure within the space of three overs certainly opened the
gates for Muralitharan to polish off the Bangladesh tail half an hour
before the schedule lunch interval.
Even then it needed some great bowling from the champion off spinner
to bundle out the visitors with the last four wickets going down for the
addition of just 13 runs and within a space of six overs.
The manner in which he got rid of Mortaza was a clear indication that
proved his determination to get closer towards the World record tally of
708 wickets. He held on to a spectacular diving left handed return catch
as if his life depended on it.
Muralitharan followed up with a similar effort to dismiss Mohamed
Rafique this time of course an easy catch at short mid on which was also
marked his 100th wicket at the Asgiriya Stadium.
BANGLADESH - 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 72-4)
Javed Omar lbw b Malinga 8
S. Nafees c De Silva b Muralitharan 29
H. Bashar c P. Jayawardene b Maharoof 18
R. Saleh c M. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 0
M. Ashraful c P. Jayawardene b De Silva 26
Tushar Imran M. Jayawardene b De Silva 17
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 11
Mashrafe Mortaza c and b Muralitharan 5
Mohammad Rafique c and b Muralitharan 5
Shahadat Hossain c Dilshan b Muralitharan 0
Syed Rasel c Silva b Muralitharan 0
Extras: (b-4, lb-2, nb-5, w-1) 12
TOTAL (48.5 overs) 131
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-10 (Omar), 2-50 (Bashar), 3-61 (Saleh),
4-64 (Nafees), 5-98 (Imran), 6-111 (Ashraful),
7-118 (Mortaza), 8-130 (Rafique), 9-131 (Shahadat).
BOWLING: Malinga 10-2-41-1 (nb4, w1), De Silva 12-3-29-2, Maharoof 8-4-21-1 (nb1),
Muralitharan 14.5-6-28-6, Dilshan 4-1-6-0.
SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS
M. Vandort not out 25
U. Tharanga not out 4
Extras: (nb-1) 1
TOTAL (for no loss, 8.4 overs) 30
BOWLING: Mortaza 3-0-12-0, Rasel 4-0-18-0 (nb1),
Shahadat 1.4-1-0-0.
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