Lankan bowlers made to toil all day :

Fabulous ‘tons’ from Ashraful and Rahim

Bangladesh 438 for 4 at close on day three :

by Elmo Rodrigopulle

Two classic unbeaten centuries from Mohammed Ashraful 189 and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim 152 who were involved in a record 5th wicket stand of 261 took Bangladesh to a score of 438 for 4 on day three in reply to Sri Lanka’s 570 for 4 declared in the First Test at the Galle International Cricket Stadium, here today.

Ashraful has so far hit 20 fours and a six facing 398 balls, while Rahim has hit 18 fours and a six facing 236 balls. Ashraful has batted for 486 minutes and Rahim for 310 minutes.

Ashraful and Rahim joined forces at the fall of the 4th wicket that of Mahamadullah at 177, 61 minutes before lunch and from then on tookcharge to grind the Lankan bowlers.

Both batsmen made their best ever Test cricket scores. Ashraul’s previous best was 158, while Rahim’s best was 101. They gave a lesson in what good batsmanship is all about.

Lot of freedom

Ashraful 28 and Rahim 24, batted with a lot of freedom. They were allowed to do so by a Lankan attack of pace and spin that lacked penetration. The bowlers were just running in and delivering with no purpose or plans.

In addition throughout the day the field placings were far too defensive. Rarely were the batsmen crowded. This was inexplicable considering that Sri Lanka had made a huge 570 runs.

The medium pace bowlers Nuwan Kulesekera and Shamindra Eranga were off line, while spinners Herath, Mendis and Dilshan were bowling flat and not flighting to obtain spin.

The sun was shining brightly when Bangladesh resumed their innings on 135 for 2, with Mohammed Ashraful on 65 and Mominul Haque on 35.still needing 236 to make the Sri Lankans bat a second time.

Ball coming on nicely

The wicket for a third day one looked great with the ball coming on nicely to the bat. It had no pace or movement, but had a bit of spin. Ashraful and Haque were in no discomfort and played the bowling on its merits. In the pre lunch session, Bangladesh lost the wickets of Mominul Haque and Mohammed Mahamadullah. Haque made a debut 50 and was out five runs later, hanging his bat out to a ball from Nuwan Kulesekea that moved a bit and Angelo Mathews took the catch at slip.170 for 3.

Next man out was Mohammed Mahamadullah, having a sudden rush of blood,running out to a flighted delivery from Rangana Herath and attempting to hit the ball over the Galle Fort missed and was stumped by Dinesh Candimal for no score.177 for 4.

Good investment

Left hand batsman and debutant, the 21-year old Mominul Haque is a good investment for the future. Solid in defence he is a batsman who could be called a ‘playing from the crease‘ batsman.

He rarely moves forward, or back on to his stumps. Comfortable playing his shots from the crease and anything pitched up or short, he plays run making strokes. He drives and cuts well.

On 46 he lofted Nuwan Kulesekera over mid on for four to go to a well deserved half century. Playing his first big game he will remember his maiden half century which came in 70 balls with 8 fours. If he learns to use his feet more often should score more runs.

Morning’s highlight

The highlight of the morning session was the brilliant century chiseled out by former captain Mohammed Ashraful. An eye catching batsman and still 28, the little right hander played some scintillating drives through mid off and extra cover. The drive is sweetly timed and the ball speeds to the boundary from the moment it leaves his bat. Many were the such drives he played to obtain his runs. With him favouring the drive, it was inexplicable the bowlers feeding him the ball to play the drive.

In recent times his form had dipped, which had warranted his dropping. But he grabbed this game with both hands and played probably the best innings and the best of the five centuries he had made earlier.

All concentration

From the first ball he faced he was all concentration, discipline, cutting out the risky shots and realizing the predicament that he was in.

Another failure could have cost him his place in the tem again. When on 98 he played his signature drive off a full pitched delivery from mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis to reach his sixth Test hundred in 181 balls with 10 fours and an inside out six over extra cover off Herath. After the dismissal of Mahamadullah, skipper Mishfiqur Rahim joined Ashraful and took the team without any further hiccups to lunch on 224 for 4 with Ashraful on 107 and Rahim on 25, still requiring a further 147 runs to make the home team bat again.

Post lunch session

The post lunch session was dominated by Ashraful and Rahim. They went their way untroubled against a Lanka attack that lacked sting and added a quick 106 in this session.

It looked as though the Lankan bowlers and fielders had gone into the land of nod after lunch.

There was no urgency. The frontline bowlers were off line most of the time.

The batsmen played with a lot of freedom. There were wide open spaces in the field for them to obtain their runs, which they did gleefully to take their stand which was worth 53 at lunch to 153 at tea.

At the break Ashraful was on 143 and Rahim nearing a century on 92.Galle, Sunday.

Sri Lanka 1st innings 570-4 decl
(L. Thirimanne 155 not out, K. Sangakkara142, D. Chandimal 116 not out; Sohag Gazi 3-164)
Bangladesh 1st innings (overnight 135-2):
Jahurul Islam c Chandimal b Eranga		 20
Anamul Haque b Mendis 				 13
Mohammad Ashraful not out 			189
Mominul Haque c Mathews b Kulasekara		 55
Mohammad Mahmudullah st Chandimal b Herath 	  0
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 			152
Extras (b2, lb1, nb6) 				  9
Total (for four wickets; 136 overs) 		438 
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Jahurul), 2-65 (Anamul), 3-170 (Mominul), 4-177 (Mahmudullah)
Bowling: Kulasekara 21-3-76-1 (nb1), Eranga 22-3-80-1 (nb5), 
Herath 42-9-103-1, Mendis 23-2-92-1, Mathews 6-1-16-0, Dilshan 20-3-55-0, Thirimanne 2-0-13-0