Mahela puts Lanka on top

Chris Dhambarage reporting from Galle

Skipper Mahela Jayawardena continued his majestic form with another century as Sri Lanka batted themselves into a position of strength on the second day of the third and final Test match against the touring England team at the newly reconstructed Galle International Stadium yesterday.

Sri Lanka who are leading the three match series one nil after winning the first Test in Kandy batted the entire day to score 384 for 6 wickets in their first innings with Jayawardena unbeatenon on 149 and Chaminda Vaas on 46 with the pair having put on a record unfinished 97 runs for the seventh wicket.

This was also the third highest team total at this venue behind Pakistan's 600 for 8 declared made in June 2000 and Sri Lanka's 590 for 9 declared against the West Indies in November 2001.

Jayawardena hammered a splendid 149 not out while proving that he is the master of crease occupation and run accumulation in the series so far. This is quite evident considering the fact that he spent more than six and a half hours and faced a total of 267 deliveries before reaching the three figure mark with the aid of nine boundaries. He is also the leading run getter from either side n the current series.

Jayawardena's knock of was a classic example of building a real Test innings as he frustrated the Englishmen with his solid defense and immaculate concentration.

Jayawardena who hit a magnificent 195 in the drawn second Test match at the SSC ground in Maitland Place last week was not prepared to take an early risk and was quite satisfied in collecting just the 20 runs during the first session of play after overnight rain had delayed the start of play by 90 minutes.

But the most important fact was that they did not lose a wicket during this period as they progressed to 211 with Tillekeratne Dilshan scoring the bulk of the runs.

In fact this was an important innings from Tillekeratne Dilshan who was making a comeback after being overlooked for the opening two Test matches played in Kandy and Colombo respectively.

He may have enjoyed his share of luck on the field but his knock of 84 would have certainly lifted his morale following a series of low scores in the two warm up games in Colombo.

Dilshan of course did not look all that confident during his innings and his play against the short deliveries was also not convincing as he took three blows on the helmet - two from Steve Harmison and one from Matthew Hoggard. He did, however, offer two clear chances, on 7 and 54 but England's poor fielding let them down.

Dilshan played the ideal supporting role to his captain Jayawardena with the pair establishing a new ground record by putting on 149 runs for the fifth wicket in 217 minutes.

The previous fifth wicket record at this venue was 116 runs held by Jayawardena himself and Arjuna Ranatunga against Pakistan in June 2000.

They also fell short by just two runs from erasing the previous all time fifth wicket record for Sri Lanka against England which was held by Sidath Wettimuny and Duleep Mendis at Lord's in August 1984.

However Dilshan had the satisfaction of completing his eleventh Test half century from 81 deliveries and with the help of eight boundaries.

Even then the manner in which he was run out was quite disappointing and would have also hurt his captain Mahela Jayawardena. England had finally broken through in the last over before tea through a brilliant piece of fielding from Alastair Cook. In fact they had double success in the same over with wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardena giving Ravi Bopara his maiden Test wicket.

Skipper Jaywardena completed his 21st century and his fifth for the current year shortly after tea by stealing a quick single from the bowling of Ryan Sidebottom. This was also his sixth hundred against England and his fourth at the Galle International Stadium.

The Sri Lankan captain has so far occupied the crease for a marathon 513 minutes facing 351 deliveries and has stroked fifteen boundaries.

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SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS

(overnight 147-4):
M. Vandort lbw b Sidebottom		18
U. Tharanga lbw b Harmison		16
K. Sangakkara c Panesar b Harmison	46
M. Jayawardene not out		       149
C. Silva c Bell b Harmison		 1
T. Dilshan run out			84
P. Jayawardene c Prior b Bopara		 0
C. Vaas not out	46
Extras: (b1, lb14, nb2, w7)		24
TOTAL (for six wickets)			384
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-34 (Vandort), 2-44 (Tharanga), 3-132 (Sangakkara),
		 4-138 (Silva), 5-287 (Dilshan), 6-287 (P. Jayawardene).
BOWLING: Sidebottom 30-8-75-1 (w1), Hoggard 27-4-97-0,
	 Harmison 29-4-72-3 (nb2, w5), Panesar 24-3-58-0,
	 Bopara 10-1-39-1, Collingwood 6-1-17-0 (w1), Pietersen 3-0-11-0.

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Mahela - highest Lankan centurion

Skipper Mahela Jayawardena rewrote history books of Sri Lankan Test cricket when he emerged as the highest centurion during his unbeaten knock of 149 runs on the second day of the third and final Test match against the touring England team continued at the reconstructed Galle International Stadium yesterday.

The 35 year old playing in his 93rd Test match completed his 21st hundred and overtook Aravinda de Silva's record of 20 centuries, which he collected from the same number of matches. Jayawardena who is also Sri Lanka's leading run getter established another record when he scored his fifth hundred for 2007.

South African all rounder Jacques Kallis is the only other batsman who had scored five centuries for this calendar year. Jayawardena has so far scored six centuries against England and this was the fourth occasion he had crossed the three figure mark at the Galle International Stadium.

Most centuries for Sri Lanka in Test matches

Player			Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100
M. Jayawardena		93*	151	11	7178	374	51.27	21
A. de Silva		93	159	11	6361	267	42.97	20
K. Sangakkara		71*	116	9	6032	287	56.37	16
M. Atapattu		90	156	15	5502	249	39.02	16
S. Jayasuriya		110	188	14	6973	340	40.07	14
H. Tillakaratne		83	31	25	4545	204*	42.87	11
A. Gurusinha 		41	70	7	2452	143	38.92	7
T. Samaraweera		40	60	8	2122	142	40.80	5
M. Vandort 		14*	22	2	948	140	47.40	4
D. Mendis 		24	43	1	1329	124	31.64	4

Most hundreds in 2007 in Test matches (Top five)

   
Player			Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100
M. Jayawardena (SL) 	8*	11	1	891	195	89.10	5
J. Kallis (RSA)		8	15	3	1125	186	93.75	5
K. Sangakkara (SL) 	7*	9	2	968	222*	138.28	4
K. Pietersen (Eng)	11*	19	1	976	226	54.22	4
Younis Khan (Pak)	8	16	2	751	130	53.64	3
    
Note: Tabulated under matches, innings, not outs, runs, highest score,               
average and centuries.