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| July 25, 2005 | Monday | Jumadi-us-Sani 17, 1426 |
Sangakkara century grinds West Indies into dust
KANDY (Sri Lanka), July 24: Kumar Sangakkara scored a brilliant century to put Sri Lanka firmly in control of the second Test against West Indies after a rain-interrupted third day on Sunday.
Sangakkara’s eighth Test ton guided the hosts to 340-7 at the close, 342 runs ahead of West Indies.
The 27-year-old left-hander, playing on his old school ground, grafted for over six hours to finish unbeaten on 135 from 266 balls, an innings that included 19 stylish boundaries.
His skilful hundred, scored on a deteriorating pitch, was the first by a batsman from either side in the low-scoring series.
Sri Lanka, who started the day on 146-2, added 25 runs during a 41-minute morning, 43 runs during a 64-minute afternoon and then 126 runs in a 2-1/2 hour final session.
Sangakkara extended his third wicket partnership with Mahela Jayawardene (43) to 98 from 179 balls before Jermaine Lawson struck twice in his opening over of the day.
After slow-scoring on either side of the lunch interval, Sangakkara compiled a further 59 runs with Tillekeratne Dilshan to pile on the pressure on West Indies.
Dilshan stroked the ball around fluently and cracked seven boundaries in his 49 from 82 balls before he fell to Omari Banks.
Sangakkara started with a streaky leg glance just wide of a diving Denesh Ramdin behind the stumps to bring up his fifty.
But Lawson, who was reported for a suspect bowling action after taking 8-102 in the first Test, gave the tourists a glimmer of hope with a double strike in his first over of the day.
Jayawardene picked up a boundary with a classic on-drive before being bowled for 43 by a shooter that kept low and cut back to knock his off-stump.
Two balls later, Thilan Samaraweera glanced a delivery down the leg-side to be caught by wicket-keeper Ramdin for nought.
However, Sangakkara and Dilshan settled down to build another important stand, eking out runs slowly at first before a burst of boundaries midway through the afternoon.
Tino Best was guilty of bowling an erratic two-over burst that included one beamer to Sangakkara and three consecutive boundaries by Dilshan as he erred in length.
Shortly afterwards the rain, which caused numerous stoppages throughout the day, forced players off for an early tea.
When play resumed, the 3000-strong crowd cheered Sangakkara as he reached his century with a sweep to fine leg. He celebrated with a hug for his partner and punched-fist salute to the dressing room.
Following the dismissal of Dilshan with the score on 264-5, Daren Powell bowled Gayan Wijekoon for 12 with the new ball but Sangakkara stood undefeated till the close.
Sri Lanka’s main strike bowler Chaminda Vaas, who captured six wickets in the first innings, had to bat with a runner due to a hamstring strain before he too succumbed to Banks for 19.
Meanwhile, Sangakkara was ecstatic after scoring his “hardest” century in front of his home crowd.
His joy was obvious as he bear-hugged his partner and ran towards the pavilion punching the air in delight.
“It was always a dream of mine to get a hundred in Kandy and it was also a situation which the team needed runs,” Sangakkara told reporters.
“The last three innings I have played were a great personal disappointment for me and once I got a start here my only ambition was to stay out there as long as possible and work as hard as possible,” he added.
“It was one of the hardest-working hundreds that I have scored and it was in a situation where we needed to score over 300 to win the game.”
Sangakkara had failed in his previous three innings scoring 34, nought and six but adjusted his technique after realising he was not watching the ball properly.
“No matter how many runs you score cricket is about keeping things simple and one of the things that I realised was that I was not focusing enough on the ball,” he said.
Scoreboard
SRI LANKA (1st Innings) 150 (D.B. Powell 5-25)
WEST INDIES (1st Innings) 148 (W.P.U.J.C. Vaas 6-22).
SRI LANKA (2nd Innings, overnight 146-2):
S.T. Jayasuriya c Morton b Lawson 36
M.S. Atapattu c Banks b Powell 19
K.C. Sangakkara not out 135
D.P.M.D. Jayawardene b Lawson 43
T.T. Samaraweera c Ramdin b Lawson 0
T.M. Dilshan c Morton b Banks 49
G. Wijekoon b Powell 12
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas b Banks 19
H.M.R.K.B Herath not out 4
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, W-6, NB-8) 23
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 98 overs) 340
FALL OF WKTS: 1-55, 2-57, 3-155, 4-155, 5-264, 6-278, 7-321.
BOWLING (to-date): Powell 27-4-79-2 (1w); Lawson 25-1-93-3; Best 19-2-79-0 (2nb, 1w); Banks 16-5-39-2; Deonarine 3-0-13-0; Morton 5-0-15-0 (2nb); Chanderpaul 3-1-13-0.—Agencies
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