India run out of ideas as Lankans run riot
Posted on Jul 24, 2008 at 09:57 | Updated Jul 25, 2008 at 10:18
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Colombo: Milestones fell faster than records and wickets on Day Two of the first Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Thursday.
For a start, Mahela Jayawardene, in scoring 136, joined Don Bradman as a joint record-holder of most centuries scored at a venue. There was another slice of Test history later when an umpire had his decision overruled on the referral system by the third umpire.
The challenge by Sri Lanka batsman Tillekeratne Dilshan of International Cricket Council elite panel umpire Mark Benson's decision to give him out off Zaheer Khan was greeted with unnecessary jeers by a small but vociferous post tea crowd. These were jeers for the umpire and not the bowler.
At the close, Sri Lanka had reached 422-4 as India paid for their fielding and catching indiscretions that included two dropped catches as the 31-year-old Jayawardene scored his record-equalling ninth century at the same venue.
Two other centuries propped up the innings as with nine possible sessions remaining, the game is already at an intriguing stage with the fissures on the dry pitch widening with whatever sun there has been.
On a rain-free day, Malinda Warnapura (115) and Thilan Samarweera (111 not out) added impressive three-figure innings to their growing reputations as solid batsmen.
But the main talking points will not be of another classic Jayawardene innings or the quality support he received but the decision by Rudi Koertzen to overrule his ICC elite colleague Benson to save Dilshan.
The TV replays gave the impression that the bottom of the bat seemed to have hit the ground on the way through with his stroke; but there was no deflection of the ball.
Benson was involved in the two other referrals (or reviews as the ICC prefer to call them). The first when India's captain Anil Kumble sought one over an lbw appeal of Warnapura and later the lbw appeal against Dilshan by Harbhajan Singh.
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Total Comments: 12
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Posted By LVISS
Batsmen make such a hue and cry when confronted with a bowler friendly wicket. Bowlers shd come out openly abt
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Posted By Deeepak
You are excellent in your idea but may be you will have to change in your idea if the rain
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Posted By Dr Nandakumar Moorkath
By seeing the boring, sleep-inducing slow moving Test cricket, millions of cricket fans will have put off their TV sets
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Posted By Vishnu
I am a big fan of Indian cricket and also of test cricket. I am not the one usually to
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Posted By josh
So you mean sreeshanth a better bowler?
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