Samaraweera ton helps Lanka total 416

Kiwis struggle for runs: 159 - 5:

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Middle order batsman Thilan Samaraweera completed his fourth century this year as Sri Lanka further strengthened their position on day two of the second and final cricket Test match against the visiting New Zealand team at the SSC ground in Maitland Place yesterday.

After piling up a huge 416 runs in their first innings they had the Kiwis on the back foot from the start to leave them struggling at 159 for 5 wickets in their first innings. New Zealand are still trailing by 257 runs and need a further 58 runs to avert the follow on mark.

New Zealand’s hopes now lie on middle order batsman Ross Taylor who has battled hard throughout the final session to remain unbeaten on 70 which includes nine boundaries.

In fact New Zealand made a good recovery through their third wicket pair of Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder who added 85 runs for the fourth wicket after paceman Thilan Thushara Mirando had struck twice in his opening spell.

The spinners took over from there onwards and continued to harass the Kiwis with the combination of Muttiah Muralitharan and Rangana Herath providing plenty of anxious moments during the latter stages.

Earlier the Sri Lankan innings was built around Thilan Samarawera’s 11th Test hundred as the home side continued to punish the New Zealand bowling to all parts of the ground. Even then Mahela Jayawardena will be quite disappointed for having missed out another great opportunity of reaching the three figure mark.

The former captain fell short by just eight runs from achieving his goal thus ending a fantastic fourth wicket partnership of 180 runs. Jayawardena of course played a major role in guiding Sri Lanka towards a position of strength where he displayed a great amount of concentration batting for more than five hours at the middle.

Jayawardena faced 234 deliveries and struck eight boundaries before falling to a clever delivery from Ian O’Brien. However Thilan Samaraweera did not lose heart from this setback as he continued to hammer the Kiwi bowling in his own style.

The only concern was the amount of time and balls he faced while being stuck on 99 which certainly gave proof of his concentration and application. Samaraweera spent nearly half an hour while facing 14 nervous deliveries before eventually pushing Chris Martin for a couple of runs to reach the three figure mark.

And in the very next delivery Samaraweera hoisted Martin for a six to celebrate his landmark. He had ducked under several bouncers earlier but this time he was determined to show his class and authority. Chamara Kapugedera too had got his eye early and Sri Lanka at this stage were well on course towards reaching a total of over 500 runs.

However New Zealand came back into the game with their best performance on the field while capturing the last five wickets for the addition of just 27runs in one hours of batting time. The main destroyer was the off spinner Jeetan Patel who ripped through the Sri Lankan late order including the prize scalp of Thilan Samaraweera who was ninth out with the score on 415.

Samaraweera and Kapugedera further undermined the New Zealand bowling by adding 72 runs for the fifth wicket from just 76 minutes and 106 deliveries. Kapugedera made his intentions quite clear from the beginning while hoisting one six and stroking three boundaries.

But as wickets fell at the other end Samaraweera eventually lost his calm and departed for a magnificent 143 having batted for nearly six hours facing 240 deliveries and stroking 17 boundaries and one six.

Patel who was born in India and brought up in Wellington’s Eastern Suburbs was on a hat-trick at one stage having snapped up the wickets of tailenders Dhammika Prasad and Rangana Herath in successive deliveries. Thilan second to reach 1000 runs in 2009 Chris Dhambarage After being hospitalized for two week’s following the terror attack in Lahore in March, Thilan Samaraweera has worked hard and come a long way to become the second batsman to reach one thousand runs in Test cricket this year.

The 33 year old right hander achieved this feat during his magnificent knock of 143 runs in Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 416 on day two of the second and final Test match against the visiting New Zealand team continued at the SSC ground in Maitland Place yesterday.
 

SRI LANKA 1st innings (overnight 262-3)

T. Paranavitana c Taylor b Vettori	19
T. Dilshan c and b O’Brien		29
K. Sangakkara c Oram b Vettori		50
M. Jayawardene c McCullum b O’Brien	92
T. Samaraweera c McCullum b Patel	143
C. Kapugedera c Vettori b Patel		35
P. Jayawardene c O’Brien b Martin	17	   
D. Prasad c Taylor b Patel		 6
R. Herath lbw b Patel			 0
M. Muralitharan not out			17
T. Thushara c Patel b Vettori		 0
Extras: (b2, lb5, nb1)			 8
TOTAL (all out, 130.3 overs)		416
Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Paranavitana), 2-75 (Dilshan), 3-115 (Sangakkara), 
4-295 (M. Jayawardene), 5-367 (Kapugedera), 6-389 (P. Jayawardene), 7-396 (Prasad), 
8-396 (Herath), 9-415 (Samaraweera), 10-416 (Thushara).
Bowling: Martin 24-3-81-1, O’Brien 22-4-73-2, Vettori 40.3-12-104-3 (nb1), 
Oram 21-7-56-0, Patel 20-3-78-4, Ryder 3-1-17-0.
	   

NEW ZEALAND 1st innings

T. McIntosh lbw b Prasad			 5
M. Guptill c Muralitharan b Thushara		35
D. Flynn c P. Jayawardene b Thushara		13
R. Taylor not out				70
J. Ryder c Paranavitana b Herath		23
J. Patel c M. Jayawardene b Muralitharan	 1
B. McCullum not out				 5
Extras: (lb3, w2, nb2)				 7
Total (for 5 wkts, 47 overs)			159
To bat: Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Iain O’Brien, Chris Martin.
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (McIntosh), 2-49 (Flynn), 
3-63 (Guptill), 4-148 (Ryder), 5-149 (Patel).
Bowling: Dilshan 1-0-6-0, Thushara 9-2-37-2 (nb2, w1), Prasad 6-0-41-1 (w1), 
Herath 20-7-38-1, Muralitharan 11-1-34-1.