November 25, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 9, 1422

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KANDY (Sri Lanka), Nov 24: Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas shared eight wickets to put the West Indies under pressure in the second cricket Test here Saturday.

The West Indies collapsed to 191 in reply to their rivals’ 288 on the fourth day.

Sri Lankan openers Sanath Jayasuriya (55) and Marvan Atapattu (58 not out) then pressed home the advantage given by their bowlers to help their team reach 128-1, a lead of 225 runs.

Skipper Jayasuriya struck eight boundaries in his half-century and Atapattu five as they put on 89 for the opening wicket.

Brian Lara alone defied an incisive Sri Lankan spin-pace combination to score 75 as six batsmen failed to open their account in the first innings.

Muralitharan wrecked the middle order to finish with 4-55, while Vaas made short work of the tailenders to bag 4-57 as the tourists lost their last five wickets for 24 runs.

The Sri Lankan pair, however, failed to put the pressure on an in-form Lara despite striking at the regular intervals.

The left-handed batsman, who scored a century in the first Test last week, batted confidently to smash two sixes and eight fours in his 154-ball knock, but received no support from the other end.

Lara was the last man out, trapped leg-before by Muralitharan an hour before the tea interval.

Muralitharan had put the West Indies in trouble with a triple strike in the morning session. He took his first wicket in the day’s ninth over when he bowled Ramnaresh Sarwan for 17 after the tourists had resumed at 39-1.

Four overs later, left-arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa bowled opener Chris Gayle with an in-swinger.

Gayle added 19 to his overnight score of 25 before becoming Zoysa’s second victim of the innings.

Skipper Carl Hooper and Lara raised hopes of a fight-back with their 54-run stand for the fourth wicket, but Muralitharan struck again.

The spinner trapped the West Indian captain leg-before for 23 and then had Marlon Samuels caught by wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara for no score.

“After lunch, I really bowled well,” Vaas said.

“I didn’t try to do much but bowled a line and length and got wickets. I took me one year to learn how to bowl reverse swing.

“I have asked Wasim Akram and some of the Pakistani bowlers many times (how to reverse swing), but they didn’t tell me. But I somehow learnt it and I am quite happy that I got wickets with it today.”

Bad weather in this popular hill resort has ruined more than five sessions of play.

The hosts lead the three-Test series 1-0, following their 10-wicket win in the first match at Galle last week.