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| July 26, 2005 | Tuesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 18, 1426 |
Murali seals series for Sri Lanka
KANDY (Sri Lanka), July 25: Muttiah Muralitharan spun the West Indians to their doom as Sri Lanka won the second cricket Test by 240 runs on Monday to sweep the short series 2-0.
The off-spinner grabbed eight for 46 as the tourists, set a huge victory target of 375, folded up for 137 before tea on the fourth day at the Asgiriya stadium.
Muralitharan’s 14th haul of 10 wickets in a match — he claimed 2-37 in the first innings — gave him 17 wickets in what was his first series in 11 months due to a shoulder injury.
The 31-year-old now has 549 Test wickets from 93 matches, second only to Australian Shane Warne, who took his tally to 589 from 124 games after Sunday’s first Test against England at Lord’s.
The West Indies, missing 10 top stars including the world’s leading batsman Brian Lara following a sponsorship dispute at home, had no clue how to play spin on the wearing wicket.
Their only hope was the inclement weather that had interrupted play on the last three days, but the rains kept away despite the dark clouds to enable the Sri Lankans to post an emphatic win.
Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara remained unbeaten on 157 as Sri Lanka declared their second innings at 375-7 midway through the morning session.
Muralitharan made up for the absence of left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas, who has been ruled out of cricket for at least a week due to a hamstring strain.
Man-of-the-Series Vaas, who had claimed 13 wickets in three previous innings in the series, was advised to rest ahead of the one-day tri-series against India and the West Indies starting later this week.
Lasith Malinga, opening the bowling in Vaas’ absence, struck in his second over when he trapped Xavier Marshall leg-before for one.
The West Indies, who went to lunch on 24-1, were destroyed by Muralitharan after the resumption.
The wily bowler had Runako Morton leg-before for nine with the doosra to make it 38-2.
Rookie opener Ryan Ramdass (23) and Sylvester Joseph were dismissed off consecutive balls in identical fashion, caught by Mahela Jayawardene at silly point.
It was Muralitharan’s spin partner, left-armer Rangana Herath, who struck a vital blow when West Indian captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul jabbed defensively to give Jayawardene his third catch.
Muralitharan returned to clean-bowl Narsingh Deonarine for 29 and then polished off the remaining four wickets in a breathtaking spell.
Earlier, Sri Lanka added 35 runs in nine overs to their overnight score of 340-7 before closing the innings.
Sangakkara’s eighth Test century lasted 396 minutes during which he hit 23 boundaries.
Fast bowler Tino Best was ordered off the attack by New Zealand umpire Tony Hill for sending down a second beamer in the innings.
Best, who had bowled a beamer to Sangakkara on Sunday, sent down a chest-high full toss to Herath which the batsman cut to the point fence for four.
Play began 45 minutes late due to heavy rain before the sun broke through briefly for the first time in two days.
Sri Lanka won the first Test in Colombo by six wickets.
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 340-7):
S.T. Jayasuriya c Morton b Lawson 36
M.S. Atapattu c Banks b Powell 19
K.C. Sangakkara not out 157
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 15
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-6, W-6, NB-9) 25
TOTAL (for seven decl, 107 overs) 375
FALL OF WKTS: 1-55, 2-57, 3-155, 4-155, 5-264, 6-278, 7-321.
BOWLING: Powell 28-4-89-2 (1w); Lawson 29-1-104-3; Best 20-3-84-0 (3nb, 1w); Banks 19-5-47-2; Deonarine 3-0-13-0; Morton 5-0-15-0 (2nb); Chanderpaul 3-1-13-0.
WEST INDIES (2nd Innings):
X.M. Marshall lbw b Malinga 1
R. Ramdass c J’wardene b Muralitharan 23
R.S. Morton lbw b Muralitharan 9
S. Chanderpaul c J’wardene b Herath 24
S.C. Joseph c J’wardene b Muralitharan 0
N. Deonarine b Muralitharan 29
D. Ramdin b Muralitharan 28
O.A.C. Banks c S’kkara b Muralitharan 1
D.B. Powell c J’wardene b Muralitharan 0
T.L. Best b Muralitharan 8
J.J.C. Lawson not out 1
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-2, W-2, NB-5) 13
TOTAL (all out, 41.2 overs) 137
FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-38, 3-49, 4-49, 5-77, 6-105, 7-111, 8-119, 9-131.
BOWLING: Malinga 12-2-48-1 (5nb, 2w); Wijekoon 4-1-8-0; Muralitharan 16.2-4-46-8; Herath 9-2-29-1.
UMPIRES: A.L. Hill (New Zealand) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: T.H. Wijewardene (Sri Lanka).
MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Kumar Sangakkara.
MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Chaminda Vaas.
FIRST TEST: Colombo (SSC), Sri Lanka won by six wickets.—AFP
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