Will Murali demolish Bangladesh again?

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan will return to his home ground the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, in anticipation of setting up another World record as Sri Lanka look set to extend their dominance over Bangladesh in the second test match which begins today.

The 35 year old spin genius from Kandy has now reached his best ever rating in the International Cricket Council Player Rankings for test bowlers following his heroics in the first test which the home side won by an innings at the SSC grounds, Maitland Place last week.

Muralitharan captured nine wickets in that match while bringing his overall tally to 683 test scalps and pushing him up to 916 rating points from 913 his highest since making his debut way back in 1992.

As the only bowler currently enjoying in excess of 900 rating points, Muralitharan is way out in front at the top of the current rankings and he can also make his mark on history books if he continues to dominate over the batsmen in the second Test too.

Muralithran is currently placed fourth in the all time bowling rankings with his sights now set firmly on the three names ahead of him namely Imran Khan of Pakistan (922 points), England's George Lohmann (931) and Sydney Barnes (932).

The odds are very much in favour of Muralitharan with the history and the conditions ideal for another top class performance. He has happy memories at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium having returned a matchbag of 12 wickets for 225 runs against South Africa in August last year.

His effort also helped Sri Lanka register a thrilling one wicket win which helped them to wrap up the series two nil. Muralitharan has been a dominant force at this venue and has a tally of 42 wickets from just seven matches at an average of 23.40.

He also had a match haul of ten wickets for 98 runs against Bangladesh in 2002. Altogether he has claimed five wickets or more at the Saravanamuttu Stadium on four occasions and has bagged ten wickets in a match twice. His seven wickets for 97 runs in the second innings in that match is also the best bowling effort at the Saravanamuttu Stadium.

This match will also be quite a significant one for the Sri Lanka team who played their inaugural test match against England and also recorded their first ever test win against India. In addition the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium has also been a neutral venue having hosted a test match between Australia and Pakistan.

But the last time the Lankans played here it turned out to be a thriller where they edged out South Africa by one wicket to clinch the series two nil. Sri Lanka set a challenging target of 351 runs successfully achieved their goal with skipper Mahela Jayawardena leading the way with a magnificent 123.

The biggest problem for the Lankans is not their opponents but the unpredictable weather which is once again threatening to spoil their chances. In fact rain denied the two teams of having any significant practice yesterday and thunderstorms have been forecast for the rest of the week.

However the seasonal wet weather did not disrupt last week's first test where Sri Lanka won by an innings and 234 runs early on the fourth morning at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Maitland Place.

The national curator Anuruddha Polonowita said that the present wet weather conditions would not have a great effect on the wicket except for the fact that there will be some extra moisture during the first one hour of play. He also noted that there will be more bounce and pace than it was at the SSC wicket with the second and third day been ideal for batting.

Even then Skipper Mahela Jayawardena is hoping the rain would keep away for the next few days which will enable his team to clinch the three match series with their ninth successive win over the test minnows.

The Sri Lankan captain also ruled out any complacency against the struggling Bangladesh team and noted that his team need to perform better in the longer version of the game. He said that the team still could improve in batting, bowling and fielding.

He also stressed the importance of converting the big hundreds into 150's and 200's which will give the bowlers the ideal platform. He noted that the bowlers were not consistent as they would have liked and conceded too many boundary deliveries in the first test match.

Sri Lanka are unlikely to make any changes from the side that won the first test which means that opening batsman Malinda Warnapura will get another chance after falling for a duck on his debut in the previous game. Regular opener Upul Tharanga seem to be gradually recovering well but according to team sources he will not be rushed into the scene immediately.

Bangladesh of course are likely to make a couple of changes and may bring in 18 year old wicket keeper batsman Mushfiqu Rahim in place of the veteran Khaled Mashud. They are also contemplating in playing a third seamer in Mohammad Sharif instead of a spinner. Rahim, who has played two test matches is regarded as a better batsman than Mashud and will certainly add more into the lower order.

The teams:

Bangladesh (from): Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Mortaza, Habibul Bashar, Javed Omer, Mehrab Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Rajin Saleh, Shakib Al Hasan, Khaled Mashud, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mohammed Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Mohammad Sharif, Mushfiqur Rahim.

Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Michael van Dort, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Malinda Warnapura, Sujeewa de Silva.

Umpires: Asad Rauf and Rudi Koertzen. Match Referee: Jeff Crow.