Dilhara pushes Bangladesh deep into the mire
 

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Fast bowler Dilhara Fernando produced his best spell of bowling in four years to have Bangladesh facing the prospect of an innings defeat and a series whitewash against Sri Lanka in the second cricket Test played at the Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.

Shot out for 191 in their first innings in reply to Sri Lanka's total of 457-9 declared, Bangladesh had a struggle on their hands in the second innings after being asked to follow-on. By the end of the second day they were fighting with their backs to the wall at 131-4, still trailing by 135 runs.

Bangladesh received a major setback to their hopes of avoiding an innings defeat when in the final over of the day, young left-hander Shahriar Nafees fell to Muttiah Muralitharan for 51, his maiden Test fifty. He had till then batted daringly to strike eight fours and figure in a fourth wicket stand of 75 with Mohammed Ashraful who was unbeaten on 21.

Fernando whose career has been plagued by back injuries showed that he had returned to full fitness by producing a fiery spell of bowling which unsettled the Bangladesh batsmen on a firm pitch. He took five wickets for 60 runs in the first innings and followed it up with a further two wickets for 25 to push Bangladesh deep into the mire.

In the process he also took his 50th Test wicket playing in his 18th match. It was the 26-year-old Fernando's best bowling in four years. The last occasion he took five wickets in an innings was against India at Galle in 2001 and it was a career best five for 42. Mixing fast deliveries with clever slow ones Fernando flummoxed the Bangladesh batsmen into playing false strokes. The most notable of them was the wicket of Ashraful whom he dismissed with a slow ball, which the batsman went for a drive and only succeeded in dollying a catch to mid-on.

Ashraful, the best batsman in the Bangladesh side produced an array of exciting strokes during his brief foray in the middle driving and pulling Fernando for 19 runs in one over. In his score of 42, Ashraful scored 29 runs off Fernando, but the bowler had his revenge finally trapping him into a false stroke. His 41-ball innings comprised five fours and two sixes.

The rest of the batting was consumed by Muralitharan and Malinga who took the remaining five wickets. The bowlers were helped to a great extent by some outstanding wicket-keeping from Kumar Sangakkara who snared five victims. His catch to dismiss Nafees Iqbal was a brilliant effort, diving forward to hold onto the ball inches off the ground.

Like Sri Lanka in their formative years as a Test nation, the Bangladeshi batsmen too were guilty of being stroke happy. On a good batting pitch they were always on the offensive despite the regular fall of wickets. Sri Lanka lost two quick wickets for eight runs when they resumed yesterday morning and declared their innings after just 12 minutes batting.

Bangladesh seamers Syed Rasel and Shahadat Hossain who got their team off to a flying start by reducing Sri Lanka to 48-4 on the opening day, finished with four wickets apiece.

SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 449-7)
S.T. Jayasuriya lbw b Rasel			 13
M.S. Atapattu c Mashud b Hossain		 11
K.C. Sangakkara b Rasel				  5
D.P.M. Jayawardene b Hossain			  2
T.T. Samaraweera c Nafees b Rasel		138 
T.M. Dilshan c Mashud b Ahmed			168
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas b Rasel				 65
H.M.R.K.B. Herath lbw b Hossain			  1
M. Muralitharan b Hossain			 24
C.R.D. Fernando not out		 		  4
Extras (B-4, LB-10, NB-11, W-1)			 26
TOTAL (9 wkts dec., 92.3 overs, 391 mins)	457
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-28 (Atapattu), 2-28 (Jayasuriya), 
3-33 (Jayawardene), 4-48 (Sangakkara), 5-328 (Dilshan), 
6-397 (Samaraweera), 7-400 (Herath), 8-453 (Muralitharan), 
9-457 (Vaas).
DID NOT BAT: S.L. Malinga.
BOWLING: Rasel 21.3-2-129-4 (5nb, 1w), Hossain 20-3-108-4 (2nb),
 Ahmed 8-2-33-1, Rafique 23-1-92-0 (1nb), Haque 18-2-70-0 (3nb), 
 Ashraful 2-0-11-0.

BANGLADESH - 1ST INNINGS
Javed Omar b Fernando				18
Shahriar Nafees c Sangakkara b Malinga		 5
Habibul Bashar c Vaas b Fernando		18
Nafees Iqbal c Sangakkara b Fernando		 5
Mohammed Ashraful c Atapattu b Fernando		42
Aftab Ahmed c Sangakkara b Fernando		23
Khaled Mashud st Sangakkara b Muralitharan	26
Mohammed Rafique c Dilshan b Muralitharan	 6
Syed Rasel c Vaas b Muralitharan		 5
Shahadat Hossain c Sangakkara b Malinga		 7
Enamul Haque not out 				 2
Extras (B-8, LB-9, NB-16, W-1)			34
TOTAL (all out, 45.4 overs, 204 mins)		191
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Nafees), 2-46 (Bashar), 3-52 (Omar), 
4-72 (Iqbal), 5-115 (Ashraful), 6-135 (Ahmed), 7-143 (Rafique), 
8-157 (Rasel), 9-166 (Hossain), 10-191 (Mashud). 
BOWLING: Vaas 10-0-31-0, Malinga 9-1-32-2 (8nb), 
Fernando 11-2-60-5 (8nb, 1w), Muralitharan 14.4-2-47-3, 
Herath 1-0-4-0. 

BANGLADESH - 2ND INNINGS
Nafees Iqbal c Sangakkara b Fernando			30
Javed Omar c Atapattu b Vaas				 9
Habibul Bashar c Muralitharan b Fernando		10
Shahriar Nafees c Samaraweera b Muralitharan		51
Mohammed Ashraful not out				21
Shahadat Hossain not out 				 0
Extras (B-2, LB-3, NB-5)				10
TOTAL (4 wkts at close, 34 overs, 146 mins)		131
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-22 (Omar), 2-44 (Bashar), 
3-56 (Iqbal), 4-131 (Nafees). 
BOWLING: Vaas 7-0-24-1, Malinga 7-0-31-0 (3nb), 
Fernando 5-0-25-2 (2nb), 
Herath 7-3-19-0, Muralitharan 7-2-22-1,
 Dilshan 1-0-5-0.