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| July 15, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-us-Sani 7, 1426 |
Vaas spearheads Sri Lankan fightback
COLOMBO, July 14: Chaminda Vaas top-scored with 49 and grabbed two quick wickets to lead Sri Lanka’s fightback in the first cricket Test against the under-strength West Indies here on Thursday.
The West Indies, bowled out for 285 in their first innings, hit back to dismiss Sri Lanka for 227 on a dramatic second day that saw 17 wickets fall at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.
The West Indian joy at gaining an unexpected 58-run lead was short-lived as Vaas took two wickets in three balls to leave the tourists tottering at 17-3 in their second knock.
The left-arm seamer trapped debutants Xavier Marshall and Runako Morton leg-before, while Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed Sylvester Joseph to restrict the West Indies’ overall lead to 75 with seven wickets in hand.
At stumps, captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul was unbeaten on zero and Narsingh Deonarine was on five.
The Sri Lankan batting came unstuck against Jermaine Lawson, a 23-year-old tearaway from Jamaica, who claimed 4-59 in overcast conditions.
Paceman Daren Powell and off-spinner Omari Banks lent valuable support with two wickets each.
The Sri Lankans were 149-8 at one stage before tailenders Vaas and Muralitharan gave the top order a batting lesson by smashing 66 for the ninth wicket.
Muralitharan was the second highest scorer behind Vaas with 36 before being last man out, yorked by Lawson.
The West Indies are without 10 top players, including the world’s leading batsman Brian Lara, who refused to sign the tour contracts following a sponsorship row with the West Indies Cricket Board.
Their absence was hardly felt as Sri Lanka were reduced to 7-2 by the fourth over and soon became 47-4.
Seasoned openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu were dismissed by the fourth over and Mahela Jayawardene went for three as the seamers prospered in overcast conditions.
Powell struck in his second over when he bowled Sri Lankan captain Atapattu off the inside edge for one.
Jayasuriya was then given out by Pakistan umpire Nadeem Ghauri, caught at short-leg off Lawson for three.
Television replays to determine if the ball had hit the bat before bouncing to short-leg fielder Dwayne Smith off the pads proved inconclusive.
Jayawardene became Powell’s second victim when he edged an expansive drive to Morton at second slip. Kumar Sangakkara was caught behind off Banks for 34.
Thilan Samaraweera (11) and Tillekeratne Dilshan (32) added 44 for the fifth wicket after lunch before both departed in the space of two runs.
In the morning, the West Indies failed to survive the second new ball taken from the start of the day’s play.
The tourists, who fought bravely on the first day to score 271-6, managed to add only 14 runs before losing their last four first innings wickets.
Seamers Vaas and Lasith Malinga shared the wickets, Vaas finishing with 3-35 and junior partner Malinga 4-71.
Chanderpaul failed to add to his overnight score of 69 when he was trapped leg-before by Vaas in the day’s third over.
Banks, who shared a seventh-wicket stand of 81 with Chanderpaul, made 32.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES (1st Innings, overnight 271-6):
S.C. Joseph lbw b Wijekoon 28
X.M. Marshall lbw b Vaas 10
R.S. Morton b Muralitharan 43
N. Deonarine c Sangakkara b Malinga 12
S. Chanderpaul lbw b Vaas 69
D.R. Smith lbw b Malinga 4
D. Ramdin b Wijekoon 56
O.A.C. Banks b Malinga 32
D.B. Powell c Jayawardene b Malinga 3
T.L. Best b Vaas 4
J.J.C. Lawson not out 4
EXTRAS (LB-7, NB-13) 20
TOTAL (all out, 88.2 overs) 285
FALL OF WKTS: 1-14, 2-72, 3-95, 4-109, 5-113, 6-192, 7-273, 8-276, 9-281.
BOWLING: Vaas 16.4-4-35-3; Malinga 14-1-71-4 (8nb); Wijekoon 10-1-49-2; Muralitharan 29-8-56-1; Herath 14-1-52-0; Jayasuriya 5-1-15-0.
SRI LANKA (1st Innings):
M.S. Atapattu b Powell 1
S.T. Jayasuriya c Smith b Lawson 3
K.C. Sangakkara c Ramdin b Banks 34
D.P.M. Jayawardene c Morton b Powell 3
T.T. Samaraweera c and b Lawson 11
T.M. Dilshan c Smith b Banks 32
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas b Smith 49
G. Wijekoon c Joseph b Best 12
H.M.R.K.B. Herath c Ramdin b Lawson 24
M. Muralitharan b Lawson 36
S.L. Malinga not out 5
EXTRAS (LB-6, NB-11) 17
TOTAL (all out, 57.3 overs) 227
FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-7, 3-32, 4-47, 5-91, 6-93, 7-113, 8-149, 9-215
BOWLING: Powell 13-5-31-2 (2nb); Lawson 14.3-3-59-4 (1nb); Best 11-1-47-1 (7nb); Banks 16-3-70-2 (1nb); Deonarine 1-0-9-0; Smith 2-0-5-1.
WEST INDIES (2nd Innings):
S.C. Joseph c J’wardene b Muralitharan 2
X.M. Marshall lbw b Vaas 2
R.S. Morton lbw b Vaas 0
N. Deonarine not out 5
S. Chanderpaul not out 0
EXTRAS (B-8) 8
TOTAL (for three wkts, 10.2 overs) 17
FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-3, 3-15
BOWLING (to-date): Vaas 5-1-4-2; Malinga 3-2-1-0; Muralitharan 2-1-2-1; Jayasuriya 0.2-0-2-0.—AFP
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