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Muralitharan's
fifer helps SL to bowl out Proteas for 361 |
August 04, 2006
 Sri
Lanka were rescued by yet another Muralitharan
'fifer' which has bowled out the Proteas for 361
on the opening day of the 2nd Test Match at the
P.Saravanamuttu Stadium. But for Muralitharan's
5 for 128 in about 34 overs, South Africa would
have been batting on the second day as well.
South Africa would not be utterly disappointed
though, having put up a respectable total in
their first innings, which should keep its
bowlers interested in the game unlike the 169 in
the first Test Match.
Ashwell Prince had won the toss and elected to
bat first on a wicket that looked a good one for
the batsmen, but the pace bowlers were always
going to be in the game being aided with some
extra pace and bounce from the track. Sri Lanka
got back Chaminda Vaas after recovering from his
hamstring injury and surprisingly Dilhara
Fernando, one of the key bowlers in the first
Test Match had to sit out instead of Farveez
Maharoof. For South Africa, it was the return of
their ace all rounder Shaun Pollock and he came
in for Andre Nel. It was just the second
delivery of the match that Chaminda Vaas struck
trapping Herschelle Gibbs in front of the
stumps, a couple of more wickets followed for
the homeside within the first hour. Lasith
Malinga outbowled his senior partner by removing
the wickets of Andrew Hall and Jacques Rudolph.
South Africa were tottering along at 31 for 3
and the damage was being repaired by Hashim Amla
and Ashwell Prince. Muttiah Muralitharan was
once again too good for the young Hashim Amla,
who was deceived in the air as he went back and
got rapped up on his pads by a sharp turning off
break. Amla made a 47-ball 40. Prince then found
the perfect partner in the aggressive AB de
Villiers and Sri Lanka were soon chasing the
shots played by these two batsmen. South Africa
fought back well to go to Lunch at 113 for 4
with Prince and de Villiers getting good starts
to their respective innings.
The Afternoon Session saw both Prince and AB de
Villiers continue from where they had left in
the previous session and even Muralitharan was
being scored at will. Both batsmen easily went
past their fifties and there was absolutely no
stopping for the pair as they took South Africa
to a commanding 231 for 4 at Tea with both
batsmen into their 80s. South Africa collected
138 runs in the 30 overs bowled in the session
and that was total domination by the fifth
wicket pair.
Muttiah Muralitharan broke the dangerous
partnership after the Tea Break by inducing an
edge from Ashwell Prince's cut shot. Prince fell
for 86 which had come in 144 deliveries with the
help of 13 boundaries. Sri Lanka were then lucky
to come back strongly in the game due to an
umpiring blunder that sent back AB de Villiers
back to the pavilion after his bat had hit the
ground to be given out caught behind. AB de
Villiers missed out on a truly deserving
century, falling short of it by just five runs
and his 95 had come in just 141 balls with the
help of 18 fours. Lasith Malinga was the lucky
bowler on this occasion to reduce South Africa
to 256 for 6. Mark Boucher then paddled
Muralitharan right onto his stumps but he had
made a valuable 32 by then and next to go was
Nicky Boje who looked to have been putting up a
fighting partnership with Pollock. Farveez
Maharoof had got his first wicket of this match
which came through a loose drive from Nicky Boje
who made 11. Muralitharan then dismissed the No.
10 and No.11 - Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini to
signal South Africa's innings to an end - 361
all out in the last over of the day. However
there was nobody who could stop the fireworks
produced by Shaun Pollock at the other end who
had smartly added up 54 runs for the last two
wickets. Pollock remained undefeated on 57 which
had come in 70 balls with the help of 5 fours
and two sixes. All the bowlers with the
exception of Sanath Jayasuriya got into the
wickets and Lasith Malinga was the second
wrecker-in-chief after Muralitharan with his 3
for 81 in 18 overs. For Muralitharan, it was his
55th five-wicket haul, this one has come at the
cost of 128 runs.
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