Jayasuria sets up thriller at Kandy

A thrilling century from Sanath Jayasuria and an incisive spell of bowling from Shane Warne have set the stage for a nail-biting finish to the second test at Kandy.

Australia resumed the day in a powerful position at 5-320 , however they found the going rather slow in the face of tight spells from Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas , Andrew Symonds again failing to provide any security to his place in the side , falling leg before to Murali for a scratchy 20.
Shane Warne & Jason Gillespie both failed to provide much resistance , however Damien Martyn batted on , before last week Martyn had not scored a test century for over 2 years , however he batted masterfully here on a deteriorating surface to register his second ton in a week.
Michael Kasprowcis fell to Zoysa prompting Martyn to free his arms , the elegant Western Australian was eventually stumped off the bowling of Murali for 161 (21 fours , 1 six) , his highest test score.
Stuart MacGill remained unbeaten on 17 , while Martyn’s scalp gave Murali yet another five wicket haul , taking his carear tally to 505 , just one shy of rival Shane Warne.

A target of 352 was never going to be easy against an in-form Aussie attack , and the early loss of Marvan Atapattu , lbw to Gillespie for just 8 , did little to brighten Sri Lanka’s prospects.
Avishka Gunawardene was trapped leg before to Michael Kasprowics soon after , leaving the hosts on the brink of surrendering the match with another brittle batting display like the one which cost them the first test.
However to their credit the Sri Lankans held firm , Kumar Sangakkara playing the supporting role while former skipper Jayasuria cut loose , taking to Warne with aplomb.
However just as the hosts were looking like taking the initiative Warne struck , picking up Sangakkara caught & bowled for 29 to leave the home side in a precarious position at 3-98.
Mahela Jayawardene provided the steel the Sri Lankan innings needed , batting for an hour in the process of scoring just 13 runs as he added a crucial 76 run stand with Jayasuria.
However once more just as the hosts were beginning to turn on the heat they were collared , Gillespie inducing an edge from Jayawardene and Gilchrist making no mistake , Jayasuria however carried on , registering his 11th test hundred & continuing to attack the Australian spinners as Sri Lanka narrowed the gap.


Gillespie eventually accounted for Jayasuria , caught behind for 131 (17 fours , 2 sixes) , leaving the match finely balanced at 5-218.
However Warne soon stepped up to claim the initiative , capturing the out of sorts Tillekeratne to a lazy shot for 7 & then having first test centurion Tillekeratne Dilshan clean bowled by an innocuous leg break for 43.
At 7-272 the Australians could sense a four day victory.
However Chaminda Vaas once more defied them with the bat , following up his unbeaten 68 in the first innings with a solid 30 not out to give his side every chance of leveling the series.

Sri Lanka closed on 7/301 , requiring another 51 runs to rap up the match , they will no doubt be given a confidence boost by the form of their tail in recent times , Vaas & Murali added 79 for the last wicket in the first innings & Nuwan Zoysa recently hit out to win Sri Lanka a ODI with a well compiled 43 not out.
As is usually the case in these tight run chases the first few overs will set the tone.

Summary
Australia 120
(Hayden 54 , Muralitharan 4-48 , Zoysa 4-54)
Sri Lanka 211
Vaas 68* , Muralitharan 43 , Warne 5-65)
Australia 442
Martyn 161 , Gilchrist 144 , Muralitharan 5-173
Sri Lanka 7/301
Jayasuria 131 , Gillespie 3-61 , Warne 3-83

Sri Lanka require another 51 runs with 3 wickets remaining.


Posted by DavidH