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| May 6, 2003 | Tuesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1424 |
Vettori and Atapattu escape serious injuries after collision
KANDY (Sri Lanka), May 5: New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori and Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu escaped serious injuries after a sickening on-field collision during the second Test here on Monday.
Vettori suffered an ankle injury and Atapattu had bruises on the right side of his face after the Sri Lankan collided with batsman Vettori while running him out.
Atapattu’s face hit Vettori’s helmet and both players were sprawled on the field for several minutes before an ambulance came on to the field and rushed them to hospital.
Vettori injured his left ankle when he slumped to the ground, while Atapattu suffered concussion, according to the medical staff who attended the players.
“Hospital reports suggest both players are all right, there is nothing to worry,” said Sri Lankan team manager Ajit Jayasekera.
“Atapattu and Vettori both have pain in the ankle, but there is no fracture.
“Atapattu also has a slight cut behind his right ear.”
Both players are likely to rest for the remainder of the Test match, but it is still unclear whether they will play in the limited-overs tri-series between New Zealand, Pakistan and the hosts starting on Saturday.
“There are still a few days left before the one-dayers, let’s see how the injuries heal,” Jayasekera said.
New Zealand manager Jeff Crowe said he was relieved the players were not more badly hurt.
“At first it looked a bit serious, but they are okay. A bit of rest should do the trick,” Crowe said.
This is the third incident of its kind at the Asgiriya Stadium here in the last four years — and the second involving Atapattu.
In 1999, Australian captain Steve Waugh suffered a broken nose and fast bowler Jason Gillespie dislocated a shoulder after colliding in the outfield during a Test match here.
Two years later, Atapattu banged into West Indian Brian Lara attempting a similar run-out to Monday’s. While Atapattu bruised his arm, Lara dislocated his shoulder.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s batsmen softened Sri Lanka’s spin bowlers with a valiant display.
Jacob Oram hit a career-best 74 and Mark Richardson and Vettori contributed 55 apiece as the tourists recovered from a precarious 11-3 late on Sunday to make 305 in their first innings.
Sri Lanka closed the day at 94-2 in reply in a match headed for a draw after the entire first day’s play and the first two sessions of the second day were cancelled due to the slushy outfield.
Former captain Sanath Jayasuriya was unbeaten on an aggressive 53, while his successor Hashan Tillekeratne was on 10.
The Kiwis scored 96 runs from 41 overs in the extended 150-minute morning session to crawl from their overnight score of 75-4 to 171-5 by lunch.
Left-handed Richardson batted for almost four hours to make 55 before he was snapped up at short-leg by Kumar Sangakkara off young leg-spinner Kaushalya Lokuarachchi.
It was Richardson’s second half-century of the series, having made 85 in the drawn first Test at Colombo last week.
It took the Kiwis an hour to move from 75 to 100, the landmark coming through an extra-cover drive by Richardson off Muttiah Muralitharan. Another boundary, this time past the bowler, later in the same over fetched Richardson his 15th half-century in 24 Tests.
Spin threat Muralitharan, who struggled before lunch, finally met with success after the break when he trapped Robbie Hart leg-before and clean bowled Paul Wiseman.
Hart made 31 in a sixth wicket stand of 80 with Oram, who left soon after when he edged Lokuarachchi and was caught behind by Romesh Kaluwitharana.
Oram hit 15 boundaries, justifying his promotion to number six to fill the void created by the absence of the injured Chris Cairns.
Vettori and last man Shane Bond added 34 for the 10th wicket before Vettori was run out following the collusion with Atapattu.
Muralitharan finished with three wickets, while Chaminda Vaas, Prabath Nissanka and Lokuarachchi claimed two each.
Scoreboard
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings, overnight 75-4):
M.H. Richardson c S’kkara b Loku’chchi 55
M.J. Horne c Kalu’rana b Vaas 1
S.P. Fleming lbw b Nissanka 0
M.S. Sinclair lbw b Vaas 3
S.B. Styris c T’ratne b Muralitharan 32
J.D.P. Oram c Kalu’rana b Loku’chchi 74
R.G. Hart lbw b Muralitharan 31
D.L. Vettori run out 55
P.J. Wiseman b Muralitharan 7
D.R. Tuffey c Jayawardene b Nissanka 15
S.E. Bond not out 10
EXTRAS (B-3, LB-7, W-5, NB-7) 22
TOTAL (all out, 111.5 overs) 305
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-7, 3-11, 4-71, 5-109, 6-189, 7-222, 8-237, 9-271.
BOWLING: Vaas 22-8-48-2 (2nb); Nissanka 16.5-5-41-2; Muralitharan 34-10-90-3 (5nb); Jayasuriya 8-0-24-0; Dharmasena 15-5-40-0; Lokuarachchi 16-5-52-2.
SRI LANKA (1st Innings):
K.C. Sangakkara c Hart b Tuffey 10
S.T. Jayasuriya not out 53
D.P.M. Jayawardene c Hart b Oram 15
H.P. Tillekeratne not out 10
EXTRAS (LB-5, NB-1) 6
TOTAL (for two wkts, 28 overs) 94
FALL OF WKTS: 1-30, 2-69.
TO BAT: R.S. Kaluwitharana, H.D.P.K. Dharmasena, K.S. Lokuarachchi, W.P.U.J.C. Vaas, R.A.P. Nissanka, M. Muralitharan, M.S. Atapattu.
BOWLING (to-date): Tuffey 8-4-16-1; Bond 9-2-32-0 (1nb); Oram 5-0-11-1; Wiseman 6-0-30-0.—AFP/Reuters
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