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| Sunday, 24 July 2005 |
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Rain puts stop to Lankan batting revival Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Kandy KANDY, July 23 - Following the fall of 15 wickets on the opening day some sanity was restored in the second day when the Sri Lanka came to their own and gave a much disciplined display of batting. When everything was going so well for them at 146 for two wickets in the second innings ? an overall lead of 148, rain rudely interrupted and put an end to the day?s play lopping off 29 overs. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene built on the opening stand of 55 by Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu to be batting at stumps on 46 and 38 respectively. Their liaison is worth 89 runs for the third wicket. The pitch was giving the bowlers some kind of assistance with the odd balls either kicking up or shooting through low, but it was not a difficult one to bat on. Today's performance was a big improvement on the first innings when the Sri Lankan batsmen gave a reckless display of batting to fold up for 150, their lowest total against West Indies. Thank largely to left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas who once more came up with a big- hearted bowling performance taking six for 22 off 15 overs, Sri Lanka find themselves in a strong position to push for a win in the remaining three days. The West Indies was dismissed for 148 in their first innings, but it could have been very much less had Vaas been fit to bowl more than the two overs today. Even within that short space of 12 balls he picked up two further wickets to add to his overnight tally of four for his 11th haul of five-for in his 86-Test career. Vaas was forced to go off with a slight right hamstring injury and West Indies made full use of his absence to knock up a valuable 47 runs for their last two wickets. The injury also prevented Vaas from improving on his career best figures of seven for 71, which was also against the West Indies at the SSC grounds in 2001-02. "I came off on the advise of my physio. From the team?s point of view my bowling in the second innings is very important,? said Vaas. "I came to this Test with a flu. But it is not a problem now. What I have to worry about is the hamstring. But I will be alright to bowl in the second innings," he said. Vaas said that he was happy with his six-wicket haul, which has placed his team in a good position to win. "Mahela and Kumar are batting very well and we have eight wickets in hand. Whatever runs we put on the board will be good for us to win the Test," said Vaas. "I am improving my bowling with every game. I just want to continue performing the way I am. The wicket is suited for the batsmen but if you put the ball in the right spot especially under the present conditions you can get wickets," he said. Sri Lankan bowlers made short work of the remaining five West Indian wickets grabbing them for 56 runs in 67 minutes. The day began on a successful note when Jayasuriya given the option to bowl first struck with his fifth ball when Narasingh Deonarine, the most established batsman in the West Indies side after his captain hit back an easy return catch. Deonarine's departure for 40 opened the floodgates for Sri Lanka as Vaas bowling from the opposite end also picked up two wickets in his first over of the day by sending back Ramdin and Powell. Vaas however could not continue for long being forced to retire to the pavilion with a slight strain. His absence from the attack gave some relief to the West Indies who managed to put together a valuable 47 runs for the last two wickets before they were all out. Muralitharan who was out of action yesterday suffering from the after effects of a viral flu should have also picked up wickets in his first over of the day. But Banks (5) and Best (0) were both let off by Samaraweera and Herath. Muralitharan then came for some stick from Best who hit him for five fours in scoring 23 of his unbeaten 26 runs off his bowling. Muralitharan eventually took the last two wickets but not until West Indies had come to within two runs of the Sri Lanka total of 150. SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS 150
(T. Samaraweera 37, T. Dilshan 36, D. Powell 5-25,
T. Best 3-50)
WEST INDIES - 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 92-5)
X. Marshall c Atapattu b Vaas 4
R. Ramdass run out 3
R. Morton b Vaas 1
S. Chanderpaul lbw b Vaas 13
S. Joseph c Dilshan b Vaas 18
N. Deonarine c and b Jayasuriya 40
D. Ramdin lbw b Vaas 13
O. Banks c Dilshan b Muralitharan 17
D. Powell b Vaas 0
T. Best not out 26
J. Lawson b Muralitharan 3
Extras (B-4, LB-2, NB-4) 10
TOTAL (all out in 58.1 overs) 148
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9, 2-9, 3-12, 4-27, 5-75,
6-97, 7-101, 8-101, 9-122.
BOWLING: Vaas 15-6-22-6, Malinga 9-3-22-0,
Wijekoon 5-2-9-0, Muralitharan 9.1-0-37-2,
Herath 9-0-26-0, Jayasuriya 11-3-26-1.
SRI LANKA - 2ND INNINGS
S. Jayasuriya c Morton b Lawson 36
M. Atapattu c Banks b Powell 19
K. Sangakkara not out 46
M. Jayawardena not out 38
Extras (B-4, NB-3) 7
TOTAL (for two wkts, 41.1 overs) 146
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-55, 2-57.
BOWLING: Powell 12-0-45-1, Lawson 9-1-36-1,
Best 9-2-27-0, Banks 7-2-19-0,
Deonarine 1-0-6-0, Morton 3.1-0-9-0.
UMPIRES: Simon Taufel (AUS) and Tony Hill (NZL)
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