da pixbet： Led by Murali and Thushara, Sri Lanka made light work of New Zealand’s resistance, romping to a 202-run win
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran22-Aug-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Muttiah Muralitharan hurried New Zealand to their demise•AFP
With the rain clouds staying away and the Galle sky clear, Sri Lankaromped to victory in the first Test, finishing off proceedingsmid-afternoon. The New Zealand tail offered far more resistance than thetop order – Daniel Vettori led the way with a brave 67 – but with thespinners coming into their own after early breakthroughs from ThilanThushara, Sri Lanka eased to a 202-run win. Fittingly MuttiahMuralitharan, who had taken his 100th wicket in Galle earlier in thematch, had the final say, running out Brendon McCullum with a superb throwfrom mid-off to finish off proceedings.Any realistic hopes that New Zealand had of survival had disappeared soonafter lunch, when Jesse Ryder edged Murali behind. McCullum and Vettoristaved off the inevitable for a while, and there was polite applause forVettori when he reached his half-century. Two neat pulls for four offThushara followed, but by then both Murali and Ajantha Mendis were turningthe ball at wicked angles.And it was Mendis who delivered, coming round the wicket and turning onesharply away to take the edge of Vettori’s bat. Once again PrasannaJayawardene’s glovework was smooth, and as Vettori walked back,it was only a matter of when Sri Lanka would wrap things up. McCullumswung Murali for a six, and then swept him for four to rage against dyinglight, and there were a couple of lovely drives too from Jeetan Patel. Butafter Mendis had seen him dropped by Malinda Warnapura, substituting forAngelo Mathews, at short leg, Murali struck, with the doosra luring himforward and Prasanna doing the rest.Iain O’Brien went caught at silly point off the inside edge, and McCullumthen made the mistake of taking on Murali’s throwing arm to end thecontest. The damage, though, had been done much earlier, as Sri Lankastarted the morning with some exceptionally tidy overs. The pressureeventually told once Thushara switched the angle of attack to round thewicket. Martin Guptill was clueless against one that came in with the armand then darted away to clip the top of off stump. Soon after, TimMcIntosh, perhaps still suffering the after-effects of illness, wassquared up, and Thilan Samaraweera took a fine low catch at third slip.McIntosh waited for the third umpire’s decision, but had to walk offeventually.An even heftier blow came soon after. Kumar Sangakkara threw the ball tohis predecessor as captain, and when Mahela Jayawardene got Ross Taylor totickle on into Prasanna’s hands down the leg side, the Lankan celebrationswere raucous. Up in the dressing room, Trevor Bayliss, the coach, held hishead in his hands in disbelief.With the fields more attacking, both Vettori and Jacob Oram had theopportunity to play some strokes. Vettori played a couple of lovelydrives, and the sweep and pull were also employed by both as thescoreboard ticked along. But just when it seemed that they might get tolunch without further damage, Oram tried to sweep a straighter one fromMendis, and missed.Both Vettori and Ryder saw edges off Murali evade wicketkeeper and slipand go for four, but there was to be no great escape for New Zealand. SriLanka, whose home form is the envy of so many, chipped away relentlesslyand with Thushara adding a cutting edge to the wiles of Murali and Mendis,victory was as inevitable as it was emphatic.