Lanka spinners strike after a record stand

Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya shared five wickets to put Sri Lanka in a strong position in the third and final Test against Zimbabwe in Galle on Monday.

Jayasuriya grabbed three wickets for 38 runs and Muralitharan two for 66 as Zimbabwe slipped after a record 153-run stand between openers Trevor Gripper (83) and Stuart Carlisle (64) to reach 230-5 at stumps on the third day in reply to the hosts' 418.

Heath Streak (29 not out) and Grant Flower (19 not out) steadied the innings with an unbroken 59-run stand after five wickets had fallen for 18 runs.

Left-arm spinner Jayasuriya started the slide with two wickets in three overs just before tea, dismissing Gripper and then trapping Craig Wishart leg-before for one.

Gripper stepped out to drive, missed the line and was stumped. His stand with Carlisle was the best against Sri Lanka, eclipsing the previous highest of 113 between openers Grant Flower and Mark Dekker at Harare in 1994-95.

It, however, fell 11 short of Zimbabwe's opening-wicket record of 164 between Dion Ebrahim and Alistair Campbell against the West Indies at Bulawayo last year.

Zimbabwe were not allowed to capitalise on a strong start as off-spinneer Muralitharan kept pressure from the other end to remove Carlisle and Andy Flower in his four overs after tea.

The 29-year-old Muralitharan, wicketless in the first two sessions despite bowling accurately, is now just three wickets away from becoming the youngest and quickest to reach the 400 mark.

Skipper Carlisle was adjudged leg-before on the backfoot after hitting four boundaries in his career-best knock lasting 326 minutes, his previous best being an unbeaten 62 against India at Harare last year.

Muralitharan then got the prize wicket of Andy Flower, caught driving at gully by Hashan Tillakaratne for six. Gripper and Carlisle batted slowly, but resolutely to sustain their team's hopes of avoiding a clean sweep after defeats by an innings in the first two Tests at Colombo and Kandy.

The tourists, resuming at 18 for no loss, looked set to enjoy their best batting day of the tour as they denied the hosts success for nearly four hours before squandering the advantage.

Carlisle and Gripper took no risks against the spinners on a turning pitch as 73 runs came off 34 ove in the first session and 64 in 32.3 in the second.

Gripper was more aggressive than his captain, hitting 10 boundaries in his second Test half-century in 12 matches. He played a few attacking shots against the spinners in the morning session, sweeping Upul Chandana, straight-driving Muralitharan and then lofting Jayasuriya over mid-on for three boundaries.

Jayasuriya and Muralitharan, however, neutralised the openers' efforts, sharing five wickets to boost their team's chances of posting the eighth successive Test win.

Mail Cricket Editor