Four Sri Lankan hundreds flatten Bangladesh

Four batsmen scored centuries as Sri Lanka flexed their batting might to tighten the screws on Bangladesh in the first cricket Test here on Tuesday. Maiden Test hundreds by Prasanna Jayawardene and veteran seamer Chaminda Vaas capped a solid batting display by the hosts, while captain Mahela Jayawardene and opener Michael Vandort also reached three figures.
Having shot out Bangladesh for 89 on the opening day, Sri Lanka piled up 577-6 in their first innings before declaring 15 minutes before the close of the second day's play.
Bangladesh, trailing by 488 runs, safely negotiated three overs before the close to finish the day on three for no loss. Sri Lanka's run deluge left Bangladesh facing an uphill struggle to avoid defeat in the first of three Test matches on their five-week tour.
Mohammad Ashraful's tourists lasted just 32.3 overs on the first day with Muttiah Muralitharan taking five wickets after seamer Dilhara Fernando had destroyed the top order with three wickets.
Runs came easily against the tiring Bangladesh attack that lacked the firepower to disturb the batsmen on the easy-paced wicket at the Sinhalese Sports Club. It was Sri Lanka's highest total against Bangladesh, surpassing their 555-5 declared when the two sides met for the first time in September 2001.
Bangladesh were frustrated by an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 223 between Prasanna Jayawardene and Vaas after Sri Lanka were restricted to 354-6 in the post-lunch session.
The partnership was Sri Lanka's best-ever for the seventh wicket, easily going past the 194 between Hashan Tillakaratne and Thilan Samaraweera against India in 2001. Prasanna Jayawardene, the team's wicket-keeper after Kumar Sangakkara preferred to play as a specialist batsman, compiled an unbeaten 120 in only his 10th Test. Mahela Jayawardene declared the innings soon after Vaas, a veteran of 97 matches, reached 100.
"It's the day I had been waiting for," said the 33-year-old Vaas. "When you get older, the wickets sometimes don't come so easily so it is always nice to contribute with the bat. Earlier, left-handed Vandort, a late replacement for the injured Upul Tharanga, hit 117 with the help of nine boundaries and three sixes. Mahela Jayawardene took over as Sri Lanka's second-highest scorer with 6,416 runs in 86 Tests, behind only Sanath Jayasuriya's record tally of 6,791.
SCOREBOARD:
-- Bangladesh 1st innings: 89 (M. Muralitharan 5-15, D. Fernando 3-33)
-- Sri Lanka 1st innings (overnight 227-3):

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M. Vandort c Nafees b Rafique         117

M. Warnapura lbw b Hossain              0

K. Sangakkara c Mashud b Hossain        6

M. Jayawardene c Razzak b Mortaza     127

C. Silva c Mortaza b Razzak             1

T. Dilshan run out                     79

P. Jayawardene not out                120

C. Vaas not out                       100

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Extras: (b6, lb7, nb12, w2)            27

Total: (for six wickets declared)     577

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Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Warnapura), 2-14 (Sangakkara), 3-187 (Silva), 4-304 (Vandort), 5-320 (Dilshan), 6-354 (M. Jayawardene).
Bowling: Mortaza 19-2-72-1 (nb8, w1), Hossain 18-0-102-2 (nb1, w1), Razzak 30-2-109-1, Rafique 28.5-1-138-1 (nb2), Hasan 16-0-57-0 (nb1), Ashraful 13-0-52-0, Saleh 3-0-12-0, Bashar 8-0-22-0.
Overs: 135.5
BANGLADESH 2ND INNINGS:

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Javed Omar not out                      3

Shahriar Nafees not out                 0

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Total: (for no loss)                    3

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