Lankans wrap it up

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FE Team | Published: June 29, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

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Sri Lanka needed just 30 minutes on day four of the first Test in Colombo to complete a crushing innings and 234-run victory over Bangladesh, reports BBC.
Resuming on 233-5, the visitors were shot out for 254 as Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan cleaned up the tail at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
Paceman Malinga took three of the last five wickets to finish with 4-80 and Muralitharan claimed the other two.
It was Sri Lanka's biggest win over Bangladesh in eight Test meetings.
And it enabled them to maintain a 100 per cent Test record against their opponents.
They have been so dominant against Bangladesh that none of their matches has ever gone into a fifth day - four have ended in three days - and five of their wins have come by an innings.
It was Bangladesh's 41st defeat in 47 matches since they gained Test status in 2000, with their lone win coming against struggling Zimbabwe.
Muralitharan, who finished with 4-87 to go with his 5-15 in the first innings, now has 59 wickets in seven Tests against Bangladesh.
The 35-year-old's career tally stands at 683, just 25 away from equalling retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne's world record of 708 wickets.
"With regards to the 700 wickets and the world record I think it will come. I have five more Test matches in 2007 and I think getting a further 25 to 30 wickets may not be very difficult for me by the end of the year," Murali said afterwards.
Sri Lanka struck with the day's 10th delivery when Malinga yorked Khaled Mashud for one after Bangladesh had added just five runs to their overnight score.
Mashrafe Mortaza hit two boundaries in his nine before he became Muralitharan's third victim, trapped lbw after being deceived by a slower one.
Malinga then dismissed Saqib Al Hasan and Mohammad Rafique in the same over before Muralitharan sealed Bangladesh's fate by having Shahadat Hossain stumped.
"We lose concentration at crucial moments of the game. We need to have the temperament and patience to bat longer in the five-day game," Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful commented.
"We have not played Test cricket for a while, that was one of the reasons we did not do that well in the first innings. The big positive was the second innings. It showed that if we concentrate hard it is possible to play quality bowlers. For most of our innings we stuck to our game plan and it worked well", he added.