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| Sunday, 6 January 2002 |
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Sanath's century atones for Murali's missed world record by SA'ADI THAWFEEQ reporting from Kandy KANDY, January 5 - Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya atoned for off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan missing out on a world record of ten wickets in an innings when he scored his ninth Test century and his first against Zimbabwe to place Sri Lanka in a commanding position in the second cricket Test played at the Asgiriya International Stadium here today. Jayasuriya made 139 to enable Sri Lanka finish the second day at 334 for four wickets in reply to Zimbabwe's first innings of 236. The day began with great anticipation of Muralitharan capturing the last Zimbabwe wicket which would have given him ten for the innings. But alas, it was not to be. Rusell Arnold fielding at silly mid-off would have felt really bad when he deprived Muralitharan of a possible world record when he dropped Travis Friend off the first ball of the day. Bowling with his dislocated right ring finger in plaster, Muralitharan forced Friend to edge a bat-pad catch which went through Arnold's hands. Muralitharan also had one lbw appeal against Friend turned down in the same over. His dream of picking up ten wickets ended when Chaminda Vaas bowling the second over of the day, forced Henry Olonga to edge a catch behind the wicket. Olonga made 18, in a last wicket stand of 35 which was a new record for Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka, beating by one run the previous highest between Olonga and Paul Strang at the SSC in 1996-97. Friend remained unbeaten on 29. Muralitharan finished with figures of nine for 51 off 40 overs, the fifth best in Test cricket after Jim Laker's 10/53 and 9/37, George Lohmann's 9/28 and Anil Kumble's 10/74. It was the second time in his illustrious career Muralitharan had taken nine wickets in an innings. The previous occasion was 9 for 65 against England at the Oval in 1998. No bowler other than Laker has performed this feat twice in a career. There were doubts whether Muralitharan would be fit to bowl in the second innings. Although his dislocated finger had been put back he had torn ligaments around it and whether it would aggravate the injury if he continued to bowl, is the fear. "I am a little bit disappointed but I am quite pleased with my performance. On another day luck would have gone my way and I would have got my tenth wicket. But that's part of the game," he said. "I was in a little bit of pain when I bowled this morning. But with no pain there is no gain," he said. "Whatever catches that come your way, you have to take them. At that time I didn't think about the tenth wicket when I went for the catch (which dislocated his finger). The guys are always catching mine while I am bowling and I had to do the same," he said. Muralitharan ranked his Oval performance against England ahead of the one at Kandy, because he had home support and that England were a stronger side than Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka have gone into this Test with three seamers overlooking the fact that an additional spinner may have been useful in the present conditions. Sri Lanka consolidated their position in the Test through Jayasuriya's century and with already a lead of 98 and six wickets in hand, look set to wrap up this Test as well as the series unless the weather, which so far has been at its best, interferes. They lost Marvan Atapattu, the centre of a selection controversy for nine when he was trapped lbw by Friend with the total on 11. Sangakkara looked in good touch and raced away to 42 off 44 balls with seven fours before being dismissed hit wicket off Friend. Sangakkara tried to pull a delivery and lost his balance and in his attempt to keep the ball from hitting the stumps knocked the leg bail with his boot. His dismissal at 82 ended a 71-run stand in 85 minutes with Jayasuriya. Zimbabwe's solitary success of the afternoon was the wicket of Mahela Jayawardene who was out for 56 when he attempted to pull a straight ball from left-arm spinner Grant Flower and was ruled out lbw. Jayawardene faced 86 balls with eight fours putting on 120 in 100 minutes for the third wicket with Jayasuriya. Zimbabwe missed both batsmen and were made to suffer for their lapses. Jayawardene was missed at 35 by wicket-keeper Andy Flower of Douglas Marillier and Jayasuriya was let off at 60 when captain Stuart Carlisle misjudged a catch at mid wicket off Olonga. After a slow beginning Jayasuriya crashed 14 fours to reach his century in 218 minutes off 155 balls. He paced out his innings carefully to ensure he got to his century having missed out on three previous occasions, being out for 89, 85 and 92 since his last Test century, which was against India at Galle in August last year. Jayasuriya was eventually out playing a casual sweep off Grant Flower to give Trevor Gripper an easy catch at square leg. He batted overall for 292 minutes and faced 212 balls hitting one six and 17 fours. With Arnold, he added 71 in 95 minutes for the fourth wicket. Arnold needing a big innings behind him was unbeaten on 44 at the close with Hashan Tillakaratne on 35, having escaped a possible caught and bowled chance to Flower at 17.
ZIMBABWE - 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 234-9)
H. Masakadza b Muralitharan 10
T. Gripper c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 20
S. Carlisle lbw b Muralitharan 20
G. Rennie st Sangakkara b Muralitharan 0
A. Flower c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 8
G. Flower b Muralitharan 72
C. Wishart lbw b Muralitharan 26
H. Streak b Muralitharan 1
D. Marillier b Muralitharan 8
T. Friend not out 29
H. Olonga c Sangakkara b Vaas 18
Extras (B-3, LB-6, NB-15) 24
TOTAL (all out, 97 overs) 236
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-39, 2-45, 3-51, 4-67,
5-83, 6-137, 7-140,
8-166, 9-201,10-236.
BOWLING: Vaas 17-4-59-1 (NB-9), Zoysa 15-2-44-0 (NB-3)
Muralitharan 40-19-51-9, Fernando 5-2-13-0,
Samaraweera 8-2-33-0 (NB-3), Jayasuriya 12-3-27-0.
SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS
M. Atapattu lbw b Friend 9
S. Jayasuriya c Gripper b G. Flower 139
K. Sangakkara ht wkt b Friend 42
M. Jayawardene lbw b G. Flower 56
R. Arnold not out 44
H. Tillakaratne not out 35
Extras (B-2, NB-7) 9
TOTAL (4 wkts at close, 89 overs) 334
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11, 2-82, 3-202, 4-273.
TO BAT: T. Samaraweera, C. Vaas, N. Zoysa,
M. Muralitharan, B. Fernando.
BOWLING: Streak 21-5-55-0, Friend 15-3-49-2 (NB-1),
Olonga 15-0-88-0 (NB-6), Marillier 18-2-73-0,
G. Flower 13-0-39-2, Gripper 7-1-28-0.
UMPIRES: E.A.R. de Silva (Sri Lanka) and
S. Venkatraghavan (India),
TV umpire: P. Manuel (Sri Lanka).
MATCH REFEREE: C.M. Smith (West Indies).
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