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| May 7, 2003 | Wednesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 4, 1424 |
Tillekeratne misses century as Test heads for draw
KANDY (Sri Lanka), May 6: Sri Lanka’s captain Hashan Tillekeratne missed a second successive century by seven runs as New Zealand gained a slender first innings lead in the second Test here on Tuesday.
The left-hander, who hit 144 in the drawn first Test at Colombo last week, scored 93 as Sri Lanka made 298 in reply to New Zealand’s 305 before being all out after tea on the fourth day.
The Kiwis extended the seven-run lead to 99, closing the day at 92-1 in their second knock as the rain-hit final Test of the short series headed towards a draw.
Mark Richardson followed his 55 in the first innings with 51 not out, while skipper Stephen Fleming was unbeaten on 10.
Securing the first innings lead was the only point of interest left in the game after the entire first day’s play and two sessions of the second day were cancelled due to the slushy outfield at the rain-ravaged Asgiriya Stadium.
Tillekeratne, who took over the captaincy before this series after Sanath Jayasuriya resigned to concentrate on his game, anchored his team’s innings for five-and-a-half hours.
He looked set for a 12th Test ton when he was last out, bowled by off-spinner Paul Wiseman who finished with four wickets at a cost of 104 runs on the run-laden track.
New Zealand’s attack was weakened by the absence of left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori, who was injured on Monday during an on-field collision with Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu.
Atapattu made a brief apppearance at the crease just before tea, batted for 10 minutes to make two, but did not return after the break as he found himself unfit to bat.
The duo, who both hurt their ankles, escaped serious injury and are expected to be fully fit for the one-day tri-series starting on Saturday.
Pakistan, the third team in the one-day tournament, arrived in Colombo on Monday evening.
With Atapattu injured, Sri Lanka relied heavily on their experienced overnight pair of Jayasuriya and Tillekeratne to give them a solid start.
Jayasuriya took his score from 53 to 82 when he fell to a lazy defensive stroke off Wiseman.
Having seen off the pace of Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey with four superb boundaries, the left-hander edged the off-spinner to be caught by Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming at first slip.
Romesh Kaluwitharana made 20 during a fourth-wicket stand of 43 with his captain when he hooked Bond down Tuffey’s throat at fine leg.
Wiseman grabbed his second wicket just before lunch when Kumar Dharmasena was picked up again by Fleming in the slips for five.
Kaushalya Lokuarachchi, unbeaten at lunch on two, moved to 20 when he hooked Jacob Oram to fine leg where Tuffey dived to pick up another good catch.
Oram then bowled Chaminda Vaas for 22 with Sri Lanka still 42 runs away from taking the lead, prompting Atapattu to unexpectedly make an appearance in the middle.
When last man Muttiah Muralitharan joined Tillekeratne at the crease, Sri Lanka still needed 21 runs to go ahead.
The captain, then on 82, added 11 more runs before he missed a short ball from Wiseman and was bowled.
Scoreboard
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 305 (J.D.P. Oram 74, M.H. Richardson 55, D.L. Vettori 55).
SRI LANKA (1st Innings, overnight 94-2):
K.C. Sangakkara c Hart b Tuffey 10
S.T. Jayasuriya c Fleming b Wiseman 82
D.P.M. Jayawardene c Hart b Oram 15
H.P. Tillekeratne b Wiseman 93
R.S. Kaluwitharana c Tuffey b Bond 20
H.D.P.K. Dharmasena c Fleming b Wiseman 5
K.S. Lokuarachchi c Tuffey b Oram 20
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas b Oram 22
M.S. Atapattu retired hurt 2
R.A.P. Nissanka b Wiseman 6
M. Muralitharan not out 2
EXTRAS (B-6, LB-11, NB-4) 21
TOTAL (all out, 97.3 overs) 298
FALL OF WKTS: 1-30, 2-69, 3-126, 4-169, 5-189, 6-234, 7-264, 8-285, 9-298.
BOWLING: Tuffey 20-6-45-1 (2nb); Bond 25-6-78-1 (2nb); Oram 20-2-54-3; Wiseman 32.3-4-104-4.
NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings):
M.H. Richardson not out 51
M.J. Horne c Till’ratne b Muralitharan 27
S.P. Fleming not out 10
EXTRAS (LB-4) 4
TOTAL (for one wkt, 30.5 overs) 92
FALL OF WKT: 1-65.
BOWLING (to-date): Vaas 4-2-15-0; Nissanka 5-2-10-0; Dharmasena 4-0-16-0; Lokuarachchi 7-1-15-0; Muralitharan 7.5-1-19-1; Jayasuriya 3-0-13-0.—AFP/Reuters
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