Sangakkara - a trail blazing 222 not out

Chris DHAMBARAGE reporting from Asgiriya

CRICKET: Vice captain Kumar Sangakkara hit a trail blazing 222 not out and skipper Mahela Jayawardena completed a superb century to put Sri Lanka on course to a three nil clean sweep on day three of the third and final Test match against the touring Bangladesh team continued at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy yesterday.

The two most experienced players in the Sri Lankan side made batting look much easier with their aggressive style of play as the home team piled up a huge first innings total of 500 for 4 in reply to Bangladesh’s first innings total of 131.

They also revived their memories of the record third wicket partnership of 624 runs which they posted against South Africa at the SSC grounds last year.

On a perfect day where the rains kept away for the first time in this Test match both Jayawardena and Sangakkara gave a fine exhibition of batting with the pair putting on a massive third wicket stand of 311 runs in 273 minutes.

This was also the all time best partnership for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh for any wicket. They bettered the previous best of 280 runs set by Tillekeratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera for the fifth wicket in 2005 at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium.

This pair came together with the total on 74 after opener Michael van Dort had made his exit in the 22nd over of the innings. From there onwards Sri Lanka took a firm grip of the proceedings with Jayawardena leading from the front.

The Sri Lankan captain showed early signs of building up a long innings as he concentrated in getting behind the line from the beginning.

Jayawardena who survived a close call for a leg before decision from the bowling of Syed Rasel, was the first to reach his fifty in 70 balls with the help of five fours and one six. The elegant right hander grew in confidence as the innings progressed and soon began to play the bowling on its merit.

In contrast Sangakkara took his own time to settle down and had a good look at the Bangladesh attack and the wicket which had turned into a superb batting track.

The left hander of course went into bat with an unbeaten double hundred under his belt in the second Test match which helped him to win the man of the match award at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium last week.

Even then Sangakkara was not prepared to take a risk despite some friendly bowling and was determined to occupy the crease as long as possible.

In fact it took him more than two hours to complete his half century from 82 balls which included eight boundaries. In the process Sangakkara and Jayawardena posted the 100 run third wicket partnership in 97 minutes and 154 deliveries.

The real fireworks came thereafter as the two Sri Lankan batsmen began the race to reach their century in their own style. Both were equally brilliant in collecting their runs and entered the nervous 90’s at the same time. But it was skipper Jayawardena who edged out his vice captain Sangakkara in the race to reach the three figure mark.

Jayawardena raced to his 18th Test hundred in 155 minutes and 133 deliveries with ten fours and two sixes with his second fifty coming in 63 balls. Sangakkara followed soon as he completed his 14th Test hundred with his 14th boundary having occupied the crease for 204 minutes.

This was followed by another landmark with the pair bringing up the 200 run third wicket partnership in just 171 minutes.

However Jayawardena departed in the eighth over after Bangladesh had taken the new ball for a splendid 165 which contained three sixes and fifteen boundaries.

This was the seventh time the Sri Lankan captain had passed the 150 run mark in Test cricket. Sangakkara remained unbeaten on 222 having struck 28 boundaries and occupied the crease for a marathon 396 minutes.

BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS 131 ALL OUT
SRI LANKA, 1ST INNINGS
(Overnight 30 for no loss)
Michael Van Dort b Rasel		 43
Upul Tharanga lbw b Rasel 		 12
Kumar Sangakkara not out 		222
Mahela Jayawardene c Ashraful b Rasel 	165
Chamara Silva run out 		     	 25
Tillekeratne Dilshan not out 		 17
EXTRAS: (4b,2lb,8nb,2w) 		 16
TOTAL: ( for four wickets) 		500
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-47 (Tharanga), 2-74 (Van Dort),
		 3-385 (M.Jayawardene), 4-445 (Silva).

To bat: Prasanna Jayawardene, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga,
	 Sujeeva de Silva, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Bowling: Mashrafe Mortaza 24-2-125-0 (2w) (1nb), Syed Rasel 31-1-104-3 (5nb),
	 Shahadat Hossain 16-1-71-0 (1nb), Mohammad Rafique 14-1-72-0 (1nb),
	 Mohammad Ashraful 12-0-74-0, Tushar Imran 10-0-48-0.