Kiwis avoid follow on

Chris DHAMBARAGE reporting from Galle

Sri Lanka tightened their grip over New Zealand by taking a good 171 run first innings lead to complete another successful third day’s play in the first cricket Test match which continued at the Galle International Stadium yesterday.

New Zealand may have put up a stubborn batting performance during the opening session which was restricted to 90 minutes once again following a heavy downpour early morning. But the home side crawled their way back into the game thereafter through their pace spin combination of Thilan Thushara Mirando and Muttiah Muralitharan. This pair really took the game away from New Zealand with some splendid bowling while sharing six wickets between them.

Mirando again proved his ability to pick up wickets at crucial stages of the innings and when his team needed his services most. This was another classic example of his cleverness and intelligence that earned him three top wickets under overcast conditions.

He may have not had a great amount of success with the new ball but he was able to strike twice during the third spell which certainly proved to be quite decisive. The New Zealand pair of Tim McIntosh and Ross Taylor had settled in and they were beginning to build up a good partnership.

However a clever bowling change from skipper Kumar Sangakkara brought a dramatic turn around into the game with the Kiwis losing three wickets in the space of four overs for the addition of just 15 runs.

Mirando removed Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum in quick succession while in between Muttiah Muralitharn ended Tim McIntosh’s stubborn resistance to open out the game in Sri Lanka’s favour. Taylor of course survived a chance on 27 when he was let off by Nuwan Kulasekera at deep square leg from the bowling of Ajantha Mendis.

Opener Tim McIntosh produced his best performance to stroke a solid 69 while occupying the crease for a marathon 292 minutes, facing 226 deliveries while hoisting one six and half a dozen of boundaries.

Muralitharan not surprisingly bowled a marathon spell to trouble the New Zealand batsmen with his clever variation. At one stage he sent down 29 overs non stop conceding 54 runs for his three wickets.

This was a tremendous effort as he spearheaded the Sri Lankan attack which was hampered by the absence of all rounder Angelo Mathews who was resting following a tight hamstring injury. Muralitharan also overcame Shane Warne’s record of having bowled 1761 maidens while playing in his 128th Test match. Nevertheless New Zealand were able to avoid the follow on mark largely due to some useful contributions from Jesse Ryder and skipper Daniel Vettori who put on 36 runs for the eighth wicket under tremendous pressure.

Ryder missed out on a good half century by eight runs having struck four boundaries while Vettori remained unbeaten on 33 having kept his end occupied for more than one hour when bad light halted play early.

Murali sets new record:

Spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan established yet another world record when he claimed the all-time Test record for the highest number of maiden overs bowled. Muralitharan created this record at the Galle International Cricket Stadium where the first Test against New Zealand is in progress.

Playing in his 128th career Test match, Muralitharan bowled his maiden over number 1,762, surpassing the previous best of 1,761 maiden overs bowled by Australia’s Shane Warne in 145 Test matches.

Sri Lanka                         1st innings: 452 
(T. Dilshan 92, M. Jayawardene 114, T. Samaraweera 159, D. Vettori 4-78, C. Martin 4-77)

NEW ZEALAND                1st innings               (overnight 87-2)
T. McIntosh lbw b Muralitharan			69
M. Guptill b Thushara				24
D. Flynn b Mendis				14
J. Patel lbw b Muralitharan			26
R. Taylor c P. Jayawardene b Thushara		35
J. Ryder b Kulasekara				42
B. McCullum b Thushara				 1
J. Oram c sub (Warnapura) b Muralitharan	12
D. Vettori not out				33
I. O’Brien not out				 3
Extras: (b6, lb5, nb11)				22
TOTAL (for 8 wkts, 105 overs)			281
To bat: Chris Martin.
Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Guptill), 2-80 (Flynn), 3-129 (Patel), 4-180 (Taylor), 
5-188 (McIntosh), 6-195 (McCullum), 7-223 (Oram), 8-259 (Ryder).
Bowling: Kulasekara 10-2-41-1 (nb1), Thushara 22-2-80-3 (nb6), Mendis 34-8-75-1 (nb4), 
Muralitharan 37-9-66-3, Paranavitana 2-0-8-0.