A day that started with anti-climax, when hometown hero Muttiah Muralitharan
narrowly failed to become the third man in history to take ten wickets in an
innings, ended with Sri Lanka in a now familiar position of dominance in
this one-sided Test series.
With the Sri Lankan top order rallying around their captain Sanath
Jayasuriya, who scored a brilliant hundred, the hosts quickly overhauled
Zimbabwe's 236 first innings total to finish the day on 334 with an already
useful lead of 98.
But, as well as Jayasuriya played for his 139, an innings that spanned eight
minutes short of five hours, events on the field were dominated by
Muralitharan's failure to capture the last wicket in the morning.
The off-spinner, hampered by torn ligaments in his ring finger dislocated
the night before, would have surpassed fellow off-spinner Jim Laker's ten
for 53 against Australians in 1956 if Russel Arnold had not fumbled a simple
bat-pad catch off the first ball of the day. Then, fifth ball, Muralitharan
spun an off-break sharply back into the pads of Travis Friend only to see
umpire Venkatraghavan rule in the batsman's favour.
Next over, Vaas ran through the motions, bowling gentle medium pace at
number 11 Henry Olonga. But the dreadlocked tailender couldn't resist a
swipe the left-armers last ball and was caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara.
There was a stifled appeal and a moment of silence - when the Sri Lankan
players wondered whether they could just ignore the final wickets fall -
before umpire Asoka de Silva was forced to raise his finger.
Nevertheless, it was a wonderful performance for the first innings of a Test
match, when the pitch offered him turn but very little bounce. He finished
with nine for 51, still the fifth best figures in 124 years of Test cricket,
making him only the second man to take nine wickets in an innings twice -
again pipped by Laker who completed the feat twice in a game.
Should he be able to bowl in the second innings, which he intends to do even
if he is in severe pain, he has a great chance to become the first bowler to
take ten ten-fors in Test cricket.
Sri Lanka's batsman then showed just how true this pitch was as they
galloped past Zimbabwe's total in just two sessions with only Marvan
Atapattu - ironically the man the selectors, three of whom have now
resigned, wanted to rest - failing as he was trapped lbw for nine by Travis
Friend (11 for one).
Jayasuriya and Sangakkara added 71 for the second wicket with the stylish
Sangakkara, playing on his old school ground, leading the way with a flurry
of elegant boundaries in a run a ball 42.
But Sri Lanka's 24-year-old number three missed out on a fifty in
unfortunate circumstances as he hit his own wicket whilst trying to kick the
ball away from his stumps after a missing an attempted pull off Friend (82
for two).
But there was no respite for the visitors during an entertaining afternoon
as Jayasuriya started to assert himself and with Mahela Jayawardene ticking
along serenely. Zimbabwe tried to stem the flow of runs with defensive field
settings but their bowlers erred in their line and length too frequently and
the boundaries flowed.
Zimbabwe also dropped two chances. Andy Flower failed to hold on to a
difficult leg-side catch from Jayawardene despite a sprawling second grab
and skipper Stuart Carlisle completely misjudged a simple catch at mid on
when Jayasuriya had made just 60.
Jayawardene's miss didn't prove costly, as he was trapped lbw soon after
reaching his 13th Test fifty (202 for three), but Jayasuriya's did, as the
left-hander cruised towards his ninth Test ton with a typically
authoritative clump over mid-wicket - one of 17 fours he hit in his 212-ball
knock.
But just when he was looking like he was going to cut loose, as he smashed
Olonga for a towering six over wide long on, he swept a delivery from Grant
Flower straight into the hands of square leg (273 for four).
Then, Russel Arnold batted doggedly for nearly three hours for his 44,
adding 61 runs with Hashan Tillakaratne, who once again looked in prime
form, before the close of play.