There are old school adherents who believe that education is best achieved
with sharp cane and plenty of punishment, but one fears that the severe
beating being handed out to Bangladesh in this Asian Test Championship match
could seriously undermine the long-term confidence of their aspiring
players.
Yesterday they faced the humiliation of being bundled out for 90 and today
they suffered terribly under a scorching sun as Sri Lanka's batsmen went on
an embarrassing run spree, before Muralitharan quickly plucked out the rump
of their top order in the evening.
The home team, who started the second day on 246-1, clobbered an
astonishing 190 runs in the morning session and a relatively sedate 119
after lunch before declaring on 555 for five.
Bangladesh, facing a mountainous first innings deficit of 465 with more than
three days remaining in the match, then lost four wickets before the close
to finish on 100 for four, still 365 runs in arrears. At least they had the
satisfaction of surpassing their lowly first innings effort.
The scorecard says that they claimed five wickets, but the truth is they
only took three because the Sri Lankan captain made the unprecedented decision
to retire two batsmen `out' when he felt that they had gorged themselves
enough. Jayasuriya is a strict Buddhist so he may have reasoned that
over-indulgence was inadvisable.
Batsmen have retired `out' in first-class cricket on a smattering of
occasions, usually in early-season games on England's university fields, but
not in the 1,560 Test matches that have preceded this game.
In fairness to Jayasuriya the decision was entirely sensible in the case of
Marvan Atapattu, as he had already scored his fifth double hundred and the
retirement gave new-boy Michael Vandort his first taste of international
cricket.
Atapattu, who had started the day on 99, scored 201 off 259 balls, to take his
place in a select band of cricketers. Only Australian Donald Bradman (12),
England's Walter Hammond (seven) and Pakistan's Javed Miandad (six) have
scored more than four double-centuries in Tests.
There was no respite after Atapattu returned to the pavilion as the in-form
Mahela Jayawardene scorched his way to an utterly dismissive 150 off just
115 balls, which included 26 fours and one lofted straight six.
Bangladesh's bowlers paid heavily for their inability to maintain a
consistent line and length. Each over was littered with a boundary ball and
Jayawardene needed no second invitation to unveil his complete repertoire of
strokes.
It was Jayawardene's third consecutive Test century, having scored 104
against India in the Second Test at Kandy and 139 in the Third Test at
Colombo in his last two matches.
It looked like he was destined to smash Ian Botham's 220-ball record for the
fastest double ton in Test cricket, but Jayasuriya pulled him back into the
dressing room to let Hashan Tillakaratne have a quick run in the middle before a
tea-time declaration after Vandort was caught on the long off boundary for
36.
Earlier in the day, Kumar Sangakkara, 49 overnight, had reached his fifth
Test half-century, but then missed out on the run feast as he cut loosely at
a short ball from medium pacer Hasibul Hossain and was caught at backward
point for 54.
Bangladesh opener Javed Omar started with a flurry of boundaries and
Jayasuriya waited just eight overs before he reintroduced off spinner
Muttiah Muralitharan. Once again he conjured up the wickets for Sri Lanka.
Mehrab was the first to be dismissed as he was deceived by Muralitharan's
arm ball and was trapped leg before wicket for four to end a defiant 31-run
opening partnership.
Omar continued to bat positively, but two balls after he charged down the
wicket to loft the off spinner over the top Muralitharan trapped him leg
before wicket for 40.
Next over off-spinning all rounder Thilan Samaraweera trapped Al Shahriar
leg before wicket for seven with his first delivery to leave the tourists on
54 for three.
Habibul Bashar and Aminul Islam then added 27 runs for the fourth wicket
before Muralitharan grabbed the wicket of Habibul Bashar, caught by Jayawardene for 19, to leave Bangladesh in the bleakest of positions.