da fazobetai： It may not have healed the scars of their battering in England, but SriLanka will be hoping that normal service has resumed after an emphaticinnings and 196 run victory against Bangladesh, the largest ever win in their 126 Test history
Charlie Austin23-Jul-2002It may not have healed the scars of their battering in England, but SriLanka will be hoping that normal service has resumed after an emphaticinnings and 196 run victory against Bangladesh, the largest ever win in their 126 Test history.Unfortunately, as captain Sanath Jayasuriya admitted afterwards, the hardtruth is that the win only glosses over the side’s current problems. Despitewinning within three days and scoring a record 509 runs on the second day,Sri Lanka can take few positives out of a game they were expected to win bya country mile.The fast bowlers were poor in both innings: Dilhara Fernando and hisnamesake Buddika were short and erratic; debutante left-armer Sujeewa deSilva swung the odd ball, but did little to suggest he would prosper againstone of the major Test nations.The normally mild mannered Jayasuriya was scathing afterwards: “It was goodto see us winning a Test match again but I am not happy with the bowlers.They failed to bowl a consistent line and length and there were too many noballs. We bowled poorly in England and again here. It’s a problem – we havegot to sort it out as soon as possible.”And the batting coughed and spluttered against teenage medium pacers untilAravinda de Silva pulled on his 19 years of experience to rescue the hostsfrom severe embarrassment. Sanath Jayasuriya’s tenth Test century, asentertaining as it was, meant little against such a flimsy attack, even ifit was made in the middle order, his new home.The fact that it was the experience players that dug Sri Lanka out of a holeearly on the second day was not lost on Jayasuriya, who is unhappy that theselectors have decided to rest five more players for the second Test matchstarting Sunday, including vice captain Marvan Atapattu, star batsman MahelaJayawardene, Russel Arnold, Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan.”You need some experience,” he argued. “Yesterday we were 56 for three andit was only because of the experience in the middle order that we managed toget the runs. Next game there will only be Hashan Tillakaratne and ThilanSamaraweera with me.”He wants Muralitharan to play: “He’s naturally disappointed, as anyone wouldbe to miss a game. If Murali is fit we should go with him. But the selectorshave picked the side and I have to go with it. I don’t know anything aboutmost of the youngsters, as I have not played with them.”Muralitharan was man of the match here. Playing on his home ground for thefirst time in his Test career, the off-spinner spun out the middle order toclaim his 36th five-for, equally Sir Richard Hadlee’s world record. Hefinished with ten for 98 in the match, his 11th tenth wicket haul.Bangladesh’s Pakistan coach, Mohsin Kamal, in charge for the first time,identified Muralitharan as the major factor: “It was only Muralitharan, whogets wickets against the bigger teams as well. Him taking five is not a bigdeal against us, but we have to make sure he conceded more runs. We have tominimise our mistakes against him.”It was, however, Sri Lanka’s new ball bowlers that made the early inroads,reducing Bangladesh to 14 for two before a 77 run stand between top scorerAl Sahariar (67) and the experienced Habibul Bashar (34).Eventually, Jayasuriya’s exasperation with his aerosol attack forced him toturn to spin at both ends. Muralitharan struck in his sixth over, cleanbowling Bashar as the right-hander tried to force through the off-side. 22minutes later he was left on a hat-trick as both Akram Khan (5) and AminulIslam (0) popped up bat-pad catches.When Muralitharan dismissed Al Sahariar in a similar manner, straight afterthe luncheon interval, Bangladesh knew they could not last into the fourthday, despite a brave two-hour 26 from captain Khaled Mashud. When he topedged a sweep of Aravinda de Silva, the tourists were all out for 184.For Bangladesh, the greatest positive, apart from the news that they don’thave to face Muralitharan next game, was the performance of their teenagemedium pacers. Khan, a fast bowler himself, praised their effortsafterwards: “They bowled according to the conditions, keeping their line,and got the results. The rest of the day they were on and off, but they areyoung and have shown good improvement in the last month.”