Aided by a sedate 74 by Rajini Venugopal, Indian Railways completed aone sided eight wicket win over East Zone at the AC Tech ground in theCricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy Women’s tournament in Chennai onFriday. The match provided Railways with an an excellent opportunityto have some valuable match practice before they take on arch rivalsAir India in the title clash on Saturday.After restricting East to 146, Railways stared the run chase with alittle hiccup when Rajini Sharma was caught behind in the very firstover off Jhulan. Rajini Venugopal (74 runs off 107 balls) joinedBalbir Kaur and the two added 28 runs in 5.2 overs for the secondwicket. Balbir (7) was run out while trying to steal asingle. Hemalatha (42 runs off 88 balls) then joined Rajini. With twoearly wickets having fallen as a result of misjudgements, Rajni andHemalatha put their heads down and made sure of a Railways win.The pair moved steadily towards the target with a sedate partnershipwhich saw them capitalizing on some frequent lapses in thefield. Boundaries were far and few between since the two preferred topick up the runs by placing the ball into the gaps. The standflourished and with the East bowling not upto the mark, the two wereable to rotate the strike and kept the score ticking.Rajini in particular looked at ease against the spin attack of Sabari,Seema and Saswati. She made some crisp drives on both sides of thewicket. Rajini reached her half-century in 69 balls with the help ofsix boundaries. Then the two of them consolidated and helped the teamto close out the match in 35.2 overs with a 155 run unbroken stand off171 balls.Earlier, winning the toss, East Zone openers Neetu and Kavitha (58runs off 131 balls) failed to give a good start. Neetu was caughtbehind off Sunita when trying to go for an ambitious slash behindpoint. This brought Chandrabarti (29 runs off 106 balls) to thecrease. Both Chandrabarti and Kavitha resumed from where they had leftoff yesterday when they had shared a century stand against SouthZone. They showed good understanding in picking up the runs androtated the strike judiciously.But after the first drinks, the two spinners Rupanjali and Neetu Davidstarted to contain the two. Operating from the pavilion end, Neetuespecially made use of the uneven bounce and started to trouble thetwo batswomen. She managed to find the nick of Kavitha’s bat butRupanjali at gully dropped a simple chance. From the 20th overonwards, both Chandrabarti and Kavitha were tied down by some goodbowling from the spinners. They were not able to get the ball away forruns and the scoring rate dropped appreciably.Neetu and Deepa Kulkarni, operating in tandem, hardly gave anythingaway through to the 40th over. From the 20th to the 40th over, Eastcompiled only 40 runs. After a spell of 10 overs for nine runs withsix maidens from Neetu, East were pegged back by the fact that therewas not enough runs on the board and they were already in the last tenovers.The start of the 41st over saw Chandrabarti run out in trying to geton with the scoring. This brought Rumeli to the crease. Kavitha inthe meantime reached her second consecutive half century of thetournament. But her innings was cut short by a needless run out whenshe failed to reach the crease in trying to go for a non-existentsingle. Then Rumeli was bowled by Deepa while tring to punch the balloff the back foot. Geeta Samantrai and Jhulan took the score to 136 inthe 50th over, when the latter was run out. At the end of their 50overs, East managed to score only 146 for the loss of five wickets,mainly because of some good bowling by the Railways spin bowlers.

Doug Marillier, a Zimbabwe A player and a member of the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy last year, is currently based in Kwekwe where he coaches and plays. Here he talks to John Ward about the recent match between Midlands and Mashonaland, which he missed with a broken finger, and Midlands cricket in general.Unfortunately it wasn’t a fantastic pitch at Harare Sports Club, and the Mashonaland bowling attack is a lot better and a lot more experienced than the Midlands bowling attack. We won the toss and did the right thing by fielding. The Mashonaland side is a good side and we got them out for 165, which we thought was pretty good for our bowling attack.Unfortunately though our batsmen didn’t show, I think, enough commitment. A couple did – Ken Connelly showed a fair amount of commitment, but everyone else tried to get themselves out of a tough position by playing big shots. I think that’s something you learn by experience; the Midlands haven’t played a lot of first-class cricket, and a lot of guys haven’t played any first-class cricket before. The most experienced guys in the Midlands side apart from the pros have played a maximum of four first-class games, so we haven’t a wealth of experience.Being our first year, there are a lot of good things that have come out of it. I know we haven’t done particularly well but we beat Matabeleland in one game, and it was great for us to come into a competition like this from playing league cricket to playing a much higher standard of cricket although the Logan Cup isn’t at its strongest, with most of the national cricketers being away. But it’s very encouraging to see that we’ve done as well as we have. We lost three games and won one, but to go through a season, our first in first-class cricket, and not lose all of them, we’ve done pretty well, and the guys have shown a lot of commitment.Raymond Price, David Mutendera and myself are all down in Kwekwe to try and broaden the base of cricket. Obviously we want to get cricket restarted in places where it used to be played, like Chaplin and Guinea Fowl High Schools, because obviously later on that’s where our young cricketers are going to come from. We want to try and get cricket ‘amongst the millions’, as they say. So we’re doing an awful lot of coaching. We coach on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from about two in the afternoon until about eight at night, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we coach from two until five in the afternoon, different schools and different age groups. The standard of cricket in the Midlands has improved an awful lot, I would say, since we got there three months ago.Hopefully next year we are trying to get some of our youngsters into the CFX Academy. We have two of them in this year, Travis Friend and Gregg Haakonsen, who are both from the Midlands, although Travis went to school in Harare and Gregg was down south. They will come back to the Midlands after this year at the Academy, and they’re both Midlands boys so the community will really accept them. What we’ll try and do is bring on two young players, Justin Lewis and Luther Mutyambizi, so they will go to the Academy next year. That way we’ll always get Midlands players coming back to the Midlands instead of having Harare guys sent out there.Our Midlands captain is Colin Sanders, and he and Ken Connelly are probably the most dedicated people I’ve met in my life. Although Colin isn’t the most experienced player he did a fantastic job. I know we lost three matches, but in the one game we did win his captaincy was an inspiration. And he’s still learning – who knows, in two or three years he may be the best captain in the country.Guy Savory also did very very well, but he seems to have a problem in the thirties. He got to 30 several times and then got out. He’s going overseas to play as a pro this year for Kenilworth in the Birmingham league, where I had a contract.The Kwekwe ground has improved a lot. It used to be what they call in England a village ground, because obviously Kwekwe isn’t a fantastically popular place. But I believe that Kwekwe Sports Club has one of the best wickets in the country in terms of batting, anyway. It’s a fantastic place to be able to play cricket. The field is coming on a lot, the community is showing a lot of dedication to making Kwekwe Sports Club a much better place. They’ve drawn up plans to make it into a really big, impressive ground, with seating and good facilities. It’s looking really good. We have the centre of excellence at Kwekwe Sports Club, and kids come from all over the place and we coach them there, pretty much like the centre of excellence they have at the CFX Academy. At the moment we’re staying in lodgings, but we’ll move into a house at the ground when we go back for the third term. They’re building a house and an office at the ground, and the intention is that next season basically the professionals will be running Midlands cricket, taking the load of those who have to hold down jobs.

After demolishing Pakistan for 316 runs through an extremely tight bowling-fielding combination, England took a cautious start but eventually succumbed to Pakistan’s spin. They lost 3 precious wickets to the duo of Saqlain Mushtaq and Danish Kaneria in the last hour of play. The day ended with England at 110 for 3, the honors almost evenly shared.The game started with the overnight’s not outs Yousuf Youhana and Moin Khan resuming the innings with Pakistan at 243 for 5. England attacked with the combination of Craig White and Ashley Giles on a pitch providing equal support to spinners and the pace bowlers. The new ball was taken after the expiry of 80 overs while the batsmen at the crease crossed the 100 run partnership after being together for 227 balls.England met the first success of the day when Youhana lifted a rising delivery from Darren Gough and was caught by Graham Thorpe at square leg after playing an invaluable innings of 77. Youhana was so well set at the crease that he had no need to play such an atrocious shot. Moin Khan was next to leave after playing a masterly innings of 67. The dismissal of the two stalwarts rendered Pakistan to 271 for 7. Both the batsmen who raised the Pakistanis innings from ruins to a position of respectability literally threw away their wickets.The remaining players namely Saqlain Mushtaq, Wasim Akram, Arshad Khan and Danish Kaneria were out one after the other. Saqlain was the only one among them who played the gem of an innings scoring a valuable 37. Pakistan was all out for 316 runs. The England bowlers dominated the show throughout the day, Ashley Giles leading the battery with 5 for 75 followed by Darren Gough 3 for 79. Apparently it did not look to be an impressive total in the present era of tall scoring matches but with England losing 3 wickets for 110 runs later, it appeared safe.Though Pakistan’s total was not a daunting one, England some how played a dismal innings. The first three batsmen Mike Atherton, Marcus Trescothick and skipper Nasser Hussain though a class by themselves were caught in a groove. They only came out of it when ousted by the Pakistani spinners.Trescothick was the first to be out after playing a solid knock of 30. A wave of jubilation gripped the atmosphere when young Kaneria claimed his first wicket in test cricket. On a lovely leg break he drove a well dug Trescothick out of the crease to be smartly stumped by Moin Khan.After a long wait and hectic efforts Pakistan met with the 2nd success when Atherton was out after playing a patient innings of 32 rendering England to 105 for 2. The 3rd success came immediately after, when Nasser Hussain not being able to sustain the spinners pressure was trapped LBW by Saqlain, for a painstaking innings of 23 scored in 102 balls.The play ended with England at 110 for 3. Saqlain with 2 wickets and Kaneria with one were the successful bowlers. Though it was a day of fluctuating fortunes, the honors seem to be equally shared.

In a remarkable turn around in the Ranji One-Day South Zone League, the frontrunners Hyderabad found themselves going back home in the third position as theylost to Goa by 2 runs at CPT- India Pistons Ground, Chennai, on Monday.Hyderabad finished with six points and found themselves out of the run quotientsituation and literally presented the championship to Karnataka who beat Andhrain the other match on Monday. Perhaps it was Tamil Nadu who applied the pressureon Hyderabad with their convincing victory over Kerala in double quick time. Thenews of an early Tamil Nadu victory made Hyderabad panic and lose wickets likefalling nine pins.Earlier in the morning Goa won the toss and elected to bat and were 52/2 in the15th over when N Naik was adjudged LBW to D Manohar for 25. Goa consolidatedthrough V Kolambkar and Tanveer Jabbar who added 92 runs in 22 overs. Kolambkardeparted in the 37th over stumped off the bowling of JS Yadav for 53 (90 balls,4 fours). BKP Misquin was run out in the 42nd over for 11 as the Goa score read169/4. Jabbar and A Amonkar added a qucik 44 runs in 5.2 overs but Amonkar wasdismissed for 27 in the 42nd over. Amonkar was severe on Hyderabad bowlershitting out a six and three fours in his 17 ball stay at the wicket. Jabbar wasin his elements, hitting a six and three fours in his innings of 77 made in 105balls and was dismissed in the 49th over. Goa lost two more wickets going forbig hits and were 235/8 at the end of 50 overs. NP Singh was easily the best ofthe bowlers and was possibly under-bowled finishing with the analysis of8-3-24-3Hyderabad had heard the news of Kerala bowled out for 184 by Tamil Nadu and wenton a mad run chase. Opener M Srinivas was the first to go in the fifth overafter he had made 9 in 12 balls including two fours. Captain VVS Laxman who wasconsidered by the national selectors for a place in the Indian team had his taskcut out clearly. Laxman and Daniel Manohar went on a rampage adding 125 runs in14 overs. Laxman was particularly severe on the bowling as he punished them atwill. He smashed 12 boundaries and a six in his 43 ball innings before beingbowled in the 19th over by RP Rane. Laxman’s efforts brought him 77 runs andmade it look like Hyderabad were cruising to the Wills Trophy. Vanka Pratap camein and left in the 23rd over after making 13 in 15 balls. Daniel Manohar whoplayed second fiddle to Laxman was not to be left behind, he made a mockery ofthe Goa bowling by hitting them all over the park to get to 95 in 77 balls whichincluded 10 smashing fours and two sixes.When all was well set for Hyderabad, there came the twist in the tale in the26th over bowled by Satyajit Medappa. Medappa removed PR Satwalkar (7) in thesecond ball caught by AI Aware and in the last ball of the over had Manoharstumped by Misquin and the Hyderabad score read 212/5 in 26 overs. SatyajitMedappa had Nandakishore caught behind and then ran JS Yadav out for a duck toreduce Hyderabad to 222/8 in 27.4 overs. Needing 14 runs to win Aware cleaned upMF Ahmed for 9 in the 33rd over. In the following over NP Singh was caught byJabbar off the bowling of Digvijay Singh for 7 leaving hyderabad four runs shortof a win and a place in the Wills Trophy. Satyajit Medaapa was the toast of Goaas he claimed three wickets and a run out as Hyderabad were dismissed for 233 in33.3 overs.

The Interim Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka will have to wait to bring in Barry Richards as batting coach.The board’s initial plan was to bring Richards in ahead of the three match Test series against Indian and then to follow it up with two other stints ahead of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.With the busy domestic cricket schedule many of the leading players are taking part in the Mercantile Cricket Tournament and, with the imminent Pakistan A tour, the plan will not be realized before the Indian trip.A member of the Interim Committee, Sidath Wettimuny, confirmed that the South African great will only be coming in October or November. CricInfo also learns that the board has not yet signed the contract with Richards.

In his latest exclusive diary entry for CricInfo, the England captain assesses England’s performance in their first three games of the NatWest Triangular Series against Pakistan and Australia.Bristol and Lord’s were two very good games with two disappointing results. We were outplayed at Edgbaston, but at Bristol we took on the World Champions with a very inexperienced side, and came within three balls of winning. Having said that, Australia showed all their experience and qualities in passing the England total.At Lord’s against Pakistan we should have won. We lacked the know-how and experience that Australia had just shown us on Sunday. On Tuesday we were losing at 26 for 3, and then Trescothick and Shah were quite outstanding.Marcus has grown in stature in each international he’s played. At Lord’s he played one of the best one-day innings I’ve seen, and Owais Shah, in just his second game, showed maturity and composure. It needed just one other player to bat with Trescothick to see us to victory. We’d reduced the required rate from seven an over to just over four, and we couldn’t do it from there – that’s what was so disappointing.Shah has mirrored the Trescothick scenario last year – he came in because of an injury to Nasser, and looked at home straight away. Shah’s also come in because of injury and hasn’t looked out of his depth – he’s taken his opportunities. In his first game he came in at a difficult time, but his scoring rate was good and he was undefeated at the end. At Lord’s he came in at 26 for 3, and did everything with Marcus bar winning the game. That bodes well for the future – he’s impressed me and everyone else who’s been watching.England are a young, inexperienced team. At Lord’s on Tuesday, without Wasim Akram, Pakistan had 770 more caps than we did. That gives you an idea of the difference between the two sides. The more we play, the more experienced we’ll become, and the more likely we’ll be to take the kind of chances we had on Sunday and Tuesday.Pakistan had three direct-hit run outs. We had four run-out opportunities, and we didn’t hit the stumps. All we can do is keep practicing, which we’re doing. Run-outs are crucial in any situation, but especially the tight ones. Overall I’ve been happy with our fielding, but our strike rate for hitting the stumps needs to improve.Before this tournament I said that if we’re going to compete in the 2003 World Cup, we need as much one-day international cricket as possible. If we get to tour Zimbabwe in September, it’ll give more experience to those selected.Whatever happens in the rest of this series, we still want to compete. At the start we had six people out injured, and we’re playing the two best one-day sides in the world. As for me, it would be nice to get a hundred before the end of the tournament – this time last year I was player of the series! But the main thing is that as a team we’re moving in the right direction. We may have lost eight games on the trot, but in the last two we’ve learned a lot.

A pitch invasion in which a ground steward was injured marred the end ofEngland’s NatWest Series match against Pakistan at Headingley. Englandcaptain Alec Stewart conceded the match to Pakistan, who were just four runsshort of victory when the invasion took place, with six wickets and tenovers to spare.Younis Khan and Azhar Mahmood had seen Pakistan to the threshold of the winwhen the disgraceful invasion took place. It appeared to begin in thefootball stand, when a supporter wearing a Pakistan shirt ran on to thepitch followed by a large section of the crowd. The injured steward wasstretchered off the ground after being caught up in the stampede. There wereechoes of a similar incident in the floodlit game at Edgbaston earlier inthe series, which was delayed by nearly half an hour after crowds burst onto the ground in the mistaken belief that Pakistan had secured victory overEngland.The steward injured in the invasion at Leeds is understood to have been kicked in the head and the stomach. He was taken to hospital and was found to have suffered broken ribs and a damaged spleen.Earlier, a destructive spell of fast bowling by Waqar Younis at the outsethad set up Pakistan’s win, which owed much to a partnership of 107 betweenAbdur Razzaq and Yousuf Youhana. It was England’s tenth consecutive one-daydefeat. The Pakistan captain’s figures of 7-36 were the finest of hisdistinguished limited-overs career.When Pakistan began their reply, Darren Gough gave England fleeting hopes ofan improbable victory with a new-ball spell which accounted for bothopeners. Shahid Afridi was caught behind by Stewart for two as he edgedan extravagant off-drive, and the same combination then accounted for SaeedAnwar. After playing some thumping strokes on the off side, the left-handerfenced at a ball from Gough to give the England captain another regulationcatch.The innings was steadied by Razzaq and Youhana, who began slowly but thenaccelerated as the target drew closer. Razzaq hoisted Alan Mullally for ahuge six over the long-on boundary into the Football Stand crowd, and whenGough was recalled as England strove for a breakthrough, Razzaq responded bycutting him for another boundary. Youhana also played some forceful strokes,although he was content to play second fiddle to Razzaq as Pakistan movedinexorably towards England’s meagre total.Youhana was eventually caught at the wicket off Dominic Cork for a watchful24, and Abdur Razzaq became Stewart’s fourth victim for 75 (102 balls, 7fours, 1 six), when he attempted to hit a slower ball from Cork out of theground.When England batted it had taken a dashing half century from Ben Hollioaketo restore some of England’s battered pride after Waqar’s sensationalnew-ball spell had reduced the home side to 58 for 7. England, alreadycondemned to third place in this tournament, were put in to bat by Waqar,who immediately spreadeagled Marcus Trescothick’s stumps with the first ballof the innings.The chilly, overcast conditions early on suited Waqar and Fazl-e-Akbar, whobowled at a lively pace from the Football Stand end. Waqar next accountedfor Nick Knight, who was caught by Afridi at backward point off a leadingedge. Michael Vaughan then drove uppishly into the covers where Youhanaspilled a simple chance. Vaughan failed to capitalise, edging a ball toYounis at third slip in Waqar’s next over.Owais Shah became Waqar’s fourth wicket when he edged a lifting deliveryfrom Waqar to first slip, where Inzamam held on to the catch, despitewicket-keeper Rashid Latif diving across his line of sight. Paul Collingwoodfollowed in similar fashion without scoring before Stewart, who hadhung on grimly at the other end, then top-edged an attempted pull to a ballfrom Waqar which was caught by Razzaq at mid-off. Stewart (18) was soonfollowed by Dominic Cork, who was caught behind by Rashid Latif for a duckas he aimed to hit Waqar through mid-wicket.Hollioake then gave the crowd some relief with an array of delightfuldrives, including three fours in a row off Mahmood. Hollioake added 67 forthe eighth wicket with Gough, before the Surrey all-rounder was out for 53(66 balls, 9 fours) as he drove over a straight ball from Shahid Afridi.Andrew Caddick then fell to a brilliant, one-handed diving catch by Latifoff Mahmood, and when Alan Mullally was run out without scoring England wereall out for 156, with the ebullient Gough left unbeaten on 40.A review of ground security is likely before Pakistan next meet Australiaunder floodlights at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, in a rehearsal for Saturday’sFinal at Lord’s.

Hampshire supporters are used to late order resistence from Adrian Aymes. He provided some more to thwart Nottinghamshire on the first day of this CricInfo Championship match at the Rose Bowl. Aymes may now be 37 but is still valuable to the Hampshire cause as he proved yet again with an unbeaten 86, his best score of the season.Robin Smith chose to bat first but Nottinghamshire pace bowler Richard Logan removed openers Derek Kenway and Giles White in five balls and Will Kendall’s disappointing season continued when he was beaten on the back foot by Greg Smith’s extra pace.Robin Smith produced some of his vintage shots on the off side in making 49 in 78 balls but then gave a low catch at slip off Kevin Pietersen. Aymes and Dimitri Mascarenhas then came together in the best stand of the day, 83 for the sixth wicket, ended when Mascarenhas was deceived by a straighter delivery from Richard Stemp.But there was no stopping Aymes who made the best of solid support from Shaun Udal (20) and Alex Morris. Rain cut 13 overs from the day’s schedule after tea and in the last over of the day Aymes had his one piece of luck. Pietersen put him down at second slip off a sharp low chance when Greg Smith found the edge.At the close Aymes was 14 away from his eighth century and Hampshire were 292 for eight from 92 overs. Richard Logan was the most successful of the bowlers with three for 75 while Smith can count himself unfortunate not to have better figures than two for 39 from 18 overs.

Mohammad Rafique has not joined the Bangladesh-A camp still. This ace spinner who had always proved his skill in the shorter version, became upset when he saw his name was dropped out of the BCB contracted player list.Rafique has been serving his country for almost eight long years and he has contributed a lot with out a shred of doubt. He has played 23 one-day matches as a left-arm off spinner as well as a hard hitter lower order batsman. He made marks with the bat in some ODI also, including the one he played as an opener against Kenya. He hammered 77 in that match that played its role for Bangladesh’s first win in ODI.Everyone starts calling him a recognized ODI player. But was he unsuccessful in the longer version?In the inaugural Test Rafique was given a chance instead of Enamul Hoque. Though Naimur Rahman hit the headlines by plucking 6 wickets, Rafique’s achievement was not insignificant. He removed three Indian batsmen giving away 117 in 51 overs, a little more than 2 runs per over. He bowled at strict length giving hardly any room for the batsmen to attempt for big shots. So, his ability to get along with the longer version is not suspect so far.Then it is surprising to find him out of the National Squad. Enamul Hoque might be regarded as a better contestant for the Tests but he is already thirty-five. He might get a nasty injury like Khaled Masud, which could keep him off the field. Then what will happen? Naimur Rahman will have to continue alone from one end.The Selection Committee should have pondered over this matter before demoting Rafique to Bangladesh-A team. Like Minhajul Abedin, Rafique did not join the A-team camp yet. He felt humiliated in some respect. Eventually Bangladesh have to go for Rafique once again for the one-day matches.The 29-member Bangladesh-A Team run their practice in the BKSP grounds from Tuesday to Friday. Presently they are undergoing through training sessions under coach Dipu Roy Chowdhury, the former pace bowler of the National Team. They have the West Indies Tour in front in January 2002.

A maiden Test century from Kumar Sangakkara and a dramatic secondinnings collapse by the India’s top order in the evening left SriLanka on the verge of an emphatic victory in the first Test at theGalle International Stadium on Thursday.India had come back briefly in the morning, when they took Sri Lanka’slast seven wickets for 68 runs, but they still conceded a 175-run leadand then folded up feebly in the second innings, losing seven wicketsfor 83 runs in an extended evening session. Sri Lanka requested thefinal half hour, but bad light stopped play with India on 130 foreight.Sri Lanka, then, have paved the way for only their second Test victoryagainst India in their 20-year Test history. The last time was in SriLanka’s inaugural Test triumph at the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium back in1985.More importantly, they have grabbed the initiative in a congestedseries and now have a good chance of winning their first Test seriesin 16 months. With just four days rest before the second Test inKandy, India face a huge mental and physical challenge if they aregoing to come back into the reckoning.Sadagoppan Ramesh (2) set the tone for India’s reply. His feet stuckto the crease like stone, he groped at a full-length outswinger fromRuchira Perera and lost his off stump. India went into tea on 26 forone.After the interval, the wheels came off. Shiv Sunder Das (23) flatbatted a catch to point, Mohammad Kaif (14) was caught at short legoff Muttiah Muralitharan, and captain Sourav Ganguly missed a straightdelivery from Dilhara Fernando. India were 64 for four.By now Muralitharan was going in for the kill and Sri Lanka’s closefielders converged around the bat in excited anticipation. His jobmade easier by the early wounds inflicted by the fast bowlers, hebowled a 17 over spell, picking up four wickets in the process.Hemang Badani (5) was adjudged to have been caught behind, thoughreplays suggested the ball had only brushed the pad; Sameer Dighe (3)was scooped up by a predatory Russel Arnold at silly point; andHarbhajan Singh was teased by his fellow artisan before being deceivedin the air to give a return catch.Sanath Jayasuriya nearly finished the game off before the 6.39 close.He had Zaheer Khan caught at silly point with the first ball he bowledand then narrowly failed to take the final wicket (Javagal Srinath isnot expected to bat because of a badly swollen left hand), when MahelaJayawardene flung himself to his left, but was unable to grasp a sharpchance.Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid batted defiantly for nearly three hours. Heremained unbeaten till the close on 37, but without support from hispartners, his efforts will prove futile, unless, of course, it rainsfor two consecutive days.The morning was dominated by Sangakkara. A law student who tries tocram in his studies in between international commitments, he startedthe day on 54. Whilst wickets fell around him he extended Sri Lanka’s77-run overnight lead and remained unbeaten to the end, batting for226 balls and six hours in searing temperatures for his 105.Sangakkara had scored four Test fifties already in his short Testcareer, including a rearguard 98 in South Africa and an exhilarating95 during a tense Test against England in March, but was under extremepressure in this game after a string of low scores in the one-day gameand a scratchy series against Pakistan A.He is a free flowing stroke maker by nature, but impressed in thisinnings with his adhesiveness and determination. During each break inplay, he practiced studiously, drilling balls into the sight screenbeside the dressing room. He looked diffident and circumspect lastafternoon and was dropped once when he had made eight, but he kept hiscomposure and gradually grew in confidence.By the end though his batting was imperious. It had to be too. When ChamindaVaas was seventh man out, Sangakkara was still 28 runs short of his hundredwith a fragile tail exposed. He went on to the attack, pulling and cuttinganything remotely short. He was strong off his legs too, slickly clippingthe ball off his pads.Then, Fernando drove straight to short cover like a coach giving fieldingpractice and Ruchira Perera only lasted two balls before he guided a shortball into the gloves of Sammer Dighe. Muralitharan strode to the crease,wielding his bat like an offensive weapon, with Sangakkara still eight runsshort.Muralitharan nobly refrained from playing his most unorthodox swipes, butSangakkara’s heart was in his mouth every delivery. Eventually he got hischance and lofted a good length ball from Srinath straight down the groundfor his hundred. Muralitharan could contain himself no longer and he waspromptly caught on the square leg fence to end the innings.