Sri Lanka in complete control by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Event:

Sri Lanka in Bangladesh 2008/09

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DateLine: 28th December 2008

 

 

Muralitharan took just one over to remove the last batsman and hand Sri Lanka 115 runs as he finished with 6 for 49. Though they were disappointed with the performance with the bat, the new ball bowlers Mortaza and Mahbubul Alam operated beautifully to ask all sorts of questions to the Sri Lankan opening pair. Mortaza and Mahbubul Alam are bowlers of different styles, Mortaza probes at around the off stump region whereas for Alam swing is his strength. Both the openers were asked a series of questions and they survived more than due to their skills. After testing both the opener's skill and temperament with their lethal deliveries, Alam after getting the ball to move away from the Warnapura landed one on the middle stump and got it to curve in. The ball struck his pads and the bowler in unison with the fielders went up in appeal, umpire Llong took his time and declared the verdict in the bowler's favour. Vandort was done in by a beauty, Mortaza after operating on the line outside off stump decided to angle it across middle and leg. Vandort was caught in a moment of indecision, failed to act quickly to cover the sharp movement and Mortaza cleverly cranked up the pace as the ball crashed between bat and pad to hit middle stump.

 

Sri Lanka nearly sunk further when a fortuitous Jayawardene was handed a life attempting a nonexistent single. Sangakkara decided not to take a chance with Mohammad Ashraful's arm at mid-off, sent his partner back and the throw missed the stumps by a whisker. It didn't get any easier for the pair, especially Sangakkara, as Mortaza teased him regularly outside the off stump with his incoming delivery. Both batsmen walked off the field at lunch with a sense of relief having seen out a difficult passage of play.

 

After Bangladesh claimed the first session by taking two wickets and making two of Sri Lanka's most experienced batsmen look patchy against quality swing bowling, the second drifted away from them as Sri Lanka extended their lead to 305 at tea on the third day. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara scored composed half-centuries as Bangladesh's body language began to show negative vibes.

 

The seamers, including Mortaza, failed to extract swing and seam movement to trouble the pair and the spinners weren't as penetrative as they had been in the first innings until Sangakkara gloved one down the legside off Mehrab Hossain jnr after adding 135 for the third wicket.

 

Jayawardene did offer a couple of half chances but by and large he was solid at the crease. He survived a close shout for a caught behind off Mahbubul Alam. Both bowler and Mushfiqur Rahim were convinced the ball had kissed the outside edge, but umpire Nigel Llong wasn't so sure and replays didn't present any conclusive evidence of a deflection.

 

Jayawardene continued to graft and never at any stage after lunch did he get bogged down. His forward defense against Shakib in particular was more assured, ensuring he wouldn't fall as he had in the first innings - bowled through the gate by Shakib on the forward prod. He was strong square of the wicket on the offside and made a listless Shahadat Hossain pay with two boundaries in an over.

 

Sangakkara found his rhythm once the sun came out and negated the swing. He shrugged off the nerves with a cut past backward point off Shahadat, followed by an elegant back-foot punch past mid-on off Alam. He used his feet well against the spinners and kept rotating the strike. Sangakkarra looked set to get a hundred before getting out to Mehrab.

 

Post-tea session, Jayawardene and Samaraweera consolidated their position as Jayawardene moved from strength to strength. He began to look in absolute control of himself and was well on course for his 24th Test century. The pair was rarely troubled by the limited bowling attack and in the 69th over Jayawardene by flicking Mahbubul Alam through the midwicket claimed his century.

 

After reaching his hundred, Jayawardene played a loose off drive without moving his feet and Mushfiqur took a very sharp catch diving to his right one-handed but the tragedy was that it was a no ball. He made use his life by punishing the same bowler for three consecutive boundaries in his very next over. The feature of the partnership was that the pair neither was on full throttle neither went completely defensive. They just kept motoring along at around three runs per over and when Jayawardene reached his century both began to open up hitting boundaries at will. They put on 138 runs in 33.1 overs before Mortaza clean bowled Samaraweera with the second new ball. Just then the light deteriorated and the umpires offered the light to the batsman who gladly accepted it