Muralitharan’s spin venom can paralyze and lure England to defeat

Mahela Jayawardena unlucky to miss double hundred:

Elmo Rodrigopulle

Muttiah Muralitharan will be the man and the cynosure of all eyes when the Second Test is continued at the Singhales Sports Club ground today. As it stands the game is headed for a draw, unless Muralitharan can spit his spinning venom and paralyze the England batsmen and lure them to their demise.

When the fourth day ended England 197 runs in arrears were 48 for no loss with openers Michael Vaughan on 27 and Alistair Cook on 19 battling on to see that their side does not lose this game and gift the Three Test series to Sri Lanka and make the remaining Test in Galle only of academic interest.

When play ended due to bad light with another 16 overs to be bowled, rain clouds were gathering, and it is hoped that the rains would relent and allow an interesting final day’s cricket to be played on the final day.

When the Test began on day four the Sri Lankans were 379 for 4 a lead of 28 with the batting genius Mahela Jayawrdena who rewrote the batting record books on 167 and Jehan Mubarak on 2.

What Jayawardena and Mubarak and the remaining batsmen had to do was to get on top of the tired England bowling, make quick runs, get a formidable lead, get England in and get Muttiah Muralitharan to work his magic.

But when the Lankan innings got on rails, it was obvious that they were not going to push it, but play a waiting game and not look for runs but take it when it comes.

After putting on another 20 runs, Jehan Mubarak whose run making act in now in the dumps, scratched around for another seven runs and then failed to keep down a riser from Stephen Harmisson and offered Ian Bell a catch at second slip. He faced 53 deliveries.

Mahela Jayawardena who batted the whole of the third day and got statisticians rewriting the books, was cool as cucumber as he was making his way to what would have been a richly deserved third double hundred.

But in trying to reach his double hundred with what seemed a big hit over the mid wicket fence, he played a bit too early and top edged Monty Panesar to Paul Collingwood in the slips. He had one six and 16 fours made in 586 minutes and 422 balls.

Considering that when he came in Sri Lanka were 22 for 2 and tottering, he joined forces with Michael Vandort to stage a recovery and put the batting back on rails.

Jayawardena’s dismissal was followed by Chaminda Vaas who trying to hook a bouncer, presented Stuart Broad with his first Test wicket when Ian Bell at slip took another catch.Vaas made 4.

The Lankans took lunch at 439 for seven and it was painfully slow going considering that only 60 runs were made in the pre lunch session. Prasanna Jayawardena was on 18 and Lasith Malinga no score.

Probably consolidation first, would have been the idea.

During this drawl by the Lankan batsmen, It was sad to note that England lacked bowlers of the caliber of their former bowling greats such as Fred Trueman, Brian Statham excellent pacemen and the tantalising and confusing spin of spinners such as Jim Laker, Tony Lock and Derek Underwood, to name some bowlers who had the ability to out think batsmen and dismiss them.

Sad to say, the present crop of England bowlers look just up and down trundlers. But after lunch and when Lasith Malinga went LBW to Monty Panesar for 9, Dilhara Fernando partnered Jayawardena and made their intentions clear by forcing the pace and looking for quick runs.

Jayawardea who made a fifty odd at Asgiriya was once again in the runs showing a lot of enterprise. True he was dropped by Ravi Bopara early in his innings, but that did not deter him as he went looking for runs.

The Lankans took tea at 531 for 8 with Jayawardena on 70 and Fernando on 28. Wth the dismissal of Jayawardena 20 minutes after tea for a well made 79 with 7 fours caught by Prior off Harmisson, Mahela Jayawardena declared at 548 for 9 a healthy lead of 197 runs. Fernando remained unbeaten on his best ever score of 36. Jayawardena and Fernando put on 98 for the ninth wicket.

Ryan Sidebottom had 3 for 100, Harmisson 3 for 111 and Panesar 2 for 151.Poor figures. Jayawardena reached a well deserved 50 and with Fernando playing strokes, 92 runs came in the post lunch session, which was amazing considering that only 60 runs came in the pre lunch session.

The England fielding once again fell to pieces with half chances being spilt, and it was a laugh to watch slip and wicket keeper smiling at each other letting catches go between them.

SCOREBOARD

England 1st innings 351 (A. Cook 81, M. Vaughan 87, P. Collingwood 52,
 M. Prior 79, M. Muralitharan 5-116)

SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS (overnight 379-4):

M. Vandort lbw b Sidebottom		138
U. Tharanga c Prior b Sidebottom	 10
K. Sangakkara c Prior b Sidebottom	  1
M. Jayawardene c Collingwood b Panesar  195
C. Silva c Bopara b Harmison		 49
J. Mubarak c Bell b Harmison		  9
P. Jayawardene c Prior b Harmison	 79
C. Vaas c Bell b Broad			  4
L. Malinga lbw b Panesar		  9
D. Fernando not out			 36
Extras: (b7, lb9, w1, nb1)		 18
TOTAL (for nine wickets declared)	548
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-20 (Tharanga), 2-22 (Sangakkara), 3-249 (Vandort), 
4-377 (Silva), 5-399 (Mubarak), 6-420 (M. Jayawardene), 7-425 (Vaas), 
8-450 (Malinga), 9-548 (P. Jayawardene)
BOWLING: Sidebottom 36-4-100-3 (w1), Broad 36-5-95-1, Harmison 41.5-9-111-3 (nb1), 
Panesar 50-7-151-2, Pietersen 15-0-57-0, Collingwood 1-1-0-0, Bopara 7-2-18-0

ENGLAND 2ND INNINGS:
A. Cook not out		19
M. Vaughan not out	28
Extras: (nb1)		 1
TOTAL (for no loss)	48
BOWLING: Vaas 6-0-22-0 (nb1), Malinga 2-0-10-0, Fernando 2-0-6-0, 
Mubarak 1-0-8-0, Muralitharan 2-0-2-0