The opening day of the crucial second Test at Asgiriya International Stadiumin Kandy ended with honours even on Wednesday despite an extraordinary firsthour in which the West Indies were handicapped by the loss of half theirbowling attack in the
Charlie Austin21-Nov-2001The opening day of the crucial second Test at Asgiriya International Stadiumin Kandy ended with honours even on Wednesday despite an extraordinary firsthour in which the West Indies were handicapped by the loss of half theirbowling attack in the space of four balls.West Indies, asked to field by Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya, startedthe day well, taking a wicket in the very first over, but then saw theirpremier fast bowler, Mervyn Dillon, break down with a mystery injury in histhird over. Three balls later his replacement, Colin Stuart, was banned frombowling again in the innings after bowling two beamers at Jayasuriya.West Indies were left facing Sri Lanka with just one fast bowler, PedroCollins, who had not bowled a ball under match conditions in the tour priorto today, and leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine, whose fingers will still havebeen sore from his heavy workload in Galle.Nevertheless, Sri Lanka’s reckless batsmen conspired to lose four wickets inthe morning to hand the tourists the initiative before polishedhalf-centuries from Mahela Jayawardene and Hashan Tillakaratne led anafternoon recovery to leave the home team moderately well placed on 193 forfive when rain ended play for the day.The rain, which wiped out the entire final session, will have been warmlywelcomed by the West Indies management, who will be hoping that Dillonrecovers sufficiently to take a full part on tomorrows play. He did returnto bowl a five over spell in the afternoon, but did so in great pain.The management remains confused as to the reason why Dillon suddenlyexperienced shooting pains in his diaphragm after each delivery. He was fineyesterday and during the warm-up this morning. They are to consultspecialists as soon as possible.For Stuart, however, there will be no return until the second innings afterLaw 42.6 (b), which deals exclusively with the bowling of ‘High Full PitchedBalls’, was tightened up in September 2000. In the past, bowlers receivedtwo warnings before being removed from the attack, but now they get a firstand final warning.There was some confusion. Stuart marched back to his mark expecting tocontinue the over, complaining of a sweaty bowling palm, whilst the umpiresconferred with each other and the match referee, before informing CarlHooper of the freak situation. There may have a case for discretion beingused, but the rules were purposely changed to reduce subjectivity indecision-making on a dangerous issue.Kandy, of course, is no stranger to the unusual. It was here that Australiancaptain Steve Waugh broke his nose and fast bowler Jason Gillespie his legduring a horrific on-field collision in 1999.Then, earlier this year against England, Sri Lankan umpire B.C. Coorayneeded police protection after one of the most disgraceful umpiring displaysin recent times.All the while, some Sri Lanka’s cricketers and fans now privately worry thata hill country hoodoo conspires against them whenever they play here.They batted like they were cursed too, having won a good toss. MarvanAtapattu stumbled into a straight delivery from Dillon and was adjudged lbw,to record his 19th duck in 87 Test innings.Jayasuriya, perhaps unsettled by the unusual sight of five different bowlersin the first seven overs of the innings, clubbed three boundaries beforebeing surprised by some sharp bounce and edging to third slip.Kumar Sangakkara and Russel Arnold then played dreadful shots, as they triedto force leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine against the spin were clean bowledto leave an embarrassed home team on 53 for four.Jayawardene and Tillakaratne continued their prime form from Galle to savethem from total humiliation, adding 116 in just over two hours.Jaywardene, who came into the match with scores 104, 25, 139, 150, and 99 inhis last four Tests, counter attacked in style as he went on to score 88. Itwas a faultless innings full of well-balance pulls and compact drives.But after the after the post-lunch drinks break he became becalmed, asTillakaratne, batting with greater freedom than at anytime since returningto Test cricket in August, dominated the strike. Seemingly anxious to getmoving again he was caught and bowled in Ramnarines’s first over of a newspell as he tried to work the ball into the leg-side.Tillakaratne correctly sensed that this was not the time for one of hispainful attritional innings and pull-swept high over mid-wicket and thensquare cut for four to bring up his fifty before finishing the day unbeatenon 60.Tillakaratne has now batted for 883 minutes without being dismissedfollowing scores of 139* against India, 10* against Bangladesh, and 105* inGalle last week.The match remains evenly poised with Sri Lanka holding a marginal advantage.During the last three Tests in Kandy the first innings scores have been 253,297 and 274. With a strong lower order they are well placed to surpass this,especially if Dillon remains in capacitated.For their part, West Indies take credit from the teams response to suchmisfortune. Considering their predicament they did very well indeed,especially Ramnarine, who enjoyed some bite off the wicket in the firstsession and bowled accurately throughout.Earlier in the day both sides made one change from Galle. The Sri Lankanshad recalled left-arm fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa in place of Charitha BuddikaFernando, whilst the West Indies included left-arm fast bowler PedroCollins.