Sri Lanka remain in control

Batsmen drive home advantage in Chittagong

Last updated: 6th January 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Sri Lanka remain in control

Dilshan: Back in the runs

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Second Test Match
Chittagong
Sri Lanka 384 (T M Dilshan 162, C K Kapugedera 96, B S M Warnapura 63, Shakib Al Hasan 4-109) & 296-4 (T M Dilshan 81 no, T T Samaraweera 72 no, K C Sangakkara 54) v Bangladesh 208 (Mashrafe Mortaza 63, B A W Mendis 4-71)

Sri Lanka lead by 472 runs with six second innings wickets intact after day three of the second Test in Chittagong.

Bangladesh were set 521 to win the first match in Dhaka and are likely to be asked to chase an even bigger target after a day the tourists dominated with the bat.

Resuming on 13-0, Sri Lanka made steady progress despite losing three wickets in the afternoon session, Thilan Samaraweera and first innings centurion Tillekaratne Dilshan restored order with an unbeaten partnership of 131 to leave their side in a commanding position.

Double blow

Openers Prasanna Jayawardene and Malinda Warnapura took the total to 55 before both lost their wickets in the space of three deliveries.

Jayawardene perished for 28 when he chipped a Mohammad Ashraful delivery to short midwicket, where Shakib Al Hasan dived forward to take a fairly easy catch.

Warnapura then joined him in the pavilion at the start of the next over when he was trapped lbw by Shahadat Hossain for 27.

Kumar Sangakkara and skipper Mahela Jayawardene were initially watchful as they took their side to lunch on 95-2, and their stand was worth 68 when Enamul Haque Jnr broke the partnership - Jayawardene (22) chipping a catch to Imrul Kayes at cover.

But Sangakkara kept the scoreboard ticking over and reached his 28th Test fifty with a boundary off Haque Jnr, but Ashraful claimed his second wicket when he found a way through the left-hander's defence.

But that was as good as it got for the hosts, who found Samaraweera and Dilshan at their most obdurate.

Both struck nine boundaries as they passed their half-centuries, with Dilshan once again coping best with the conditions after his heroic 162 in the first innings.

Dilshan had reached 81 by the close, with his partner unbeaten on 72, as Sri Lanka closed on 296 for four.