Rain delays Murali’s world record
Equals Warne’s 708 wicket haul:
Chris DHAMBARAGE reporting from Asgiriya
Champion off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan equaled Shane Warne’s World
record for the most number of Test wickets as Sri Lanka came back
strongly on the second day of the first Test match against the touring
England team continued at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy yesterday.
Muralitharan captured four of the six English wickets to fall on the
second day to sit level with retired Australian spinner Shane Warne on
708 victims. He drew himself level by having Test debutant Ravi Bopara
caught down the leg-side by wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene.
However his chances of going pass the World record was shattered
following a heavy shower that forced the players to return back to the
dressing room shortly before the tea break. Muralitharan had outstanding
figures of 4 wickets for 30 runs from 21 overs at that stage as England
slumped to 182 for 6 in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 188.
Muralitharan’s other victims were Kevin Pietersen (31), Ian Bell (83)
and Michael Vaughan (37). Despite having an over at England tailender
Ryan Sidebottom he could not pick up his 61st five wicket haul in Test
cricket before the wet weather made its decisive intervention.
His figures of 23-11-30-4 was of course the main reason for Sri
Lanka’s fight back after Ian Bell and Michael Vaughn had looked like
taking the visitors towards a healthy first innings lead. But all their
hopes were shattered with Muralitharan playing in front of his home
crowd returning to form after a poor tour of Australia.
Sri Lanka’s main concern was the solid batting of Ian Bell who really
threatened to take control of the situation with a second wicket
partnership of 107 runs together with Kevin Pieterson.
The pair made batting look much easier with some intelligent cricket
while negotiating the spinners as well as the fast bowlers with equal
brilliance. Bell dropped anchor from the beginning and decided to play
straight against the seamers and even came out of his crease to loft
Muralitharan for a couple of boundaries.
The middle order batsman kept England’s hopes alive to a great extent
as they went in for lunch at 145 for 3.
Bell’s innings eventually came to an end following a brilliant diving
one handed catch from Chamara Silva fielding at mid on from the bowing
of Muralitharan. The England number three batsman performed his role
quite effectively while hitting a top score of 83 with the help of 12
boundaries.
Earlier the England skipper Michael Vaughn was the first victim of
Muralitharan with Chamara Silva again holding on to a good catch close
to the wicket. Vaughn frustrated the Sri Lankan bowlers for more than
two hours while stroking five boundaries.
Pieterson too was shaping up well and settling for a big score before
Muralitharan struck again to leave the visitors at 170 for 4.
Paceman Dilhara Fernando also managed to steal the limelight with a
decent spell of bowling in which he captured the wicket of England
wicket keeper batsman Mathew Prior with a beautiful slow delivery.
SCOREBOARD SRI LANKA 1st innings: 188
(K. Sangakkara 92, P. Jayawardene 51, M. Hoggard
4-29, M. Panesar 3-46)
ENGLAND 1st innings
(overnight 49-1):
A. Cook lbw b Vaas 0
M. Vaughan c Silva b Muralitharan 37
I. Bell c Silva b Muralitharan 83
K. Pietersen lbw b Muralitharan 31
P Collingwood not out 14
R. Bopara c P. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 8
M. Prior c Mubarak b Fernando 0
R. Sidebottom not out 1
EXTRAS: (b5, nb7) 12
TOTAL (for six wickets) 186
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Cook), 2-107 (Vaughan), 3-132 (Bell),
4-170 (Pietersen), 5-182 (Bopara), 6-185 (Prior).
BOWLING: Vaas 15-3-60-1 (nb2), Malinga 11-1-54-0 (nb5),
Muralitharan 23-11-30-4, Jayasuriya 2-0-9-0, Fernando 12-1-28-1. |
