Murali looking for place in the sun

Sri Lanka will have a new combination at the top when they take on Bangladesh in their first Test at the SSC grounds tomorrow. Since the pull out of veteran opener Marvan Atapattu and the injury to Upul Tharanga, newly drafted Michael Vandort is likely to open with the nephew of former Sri Lanka captain Bandula Warnapura – Malinda.

Malinda Warnapura who was featured with the Sri Lanka team in their off shore series against Pakistan is likely to make his Test debut tomorrow. Warnapura has a healthy 37.20 first class average with a highest score of 242 made against the Bangladesh ‘A’ team in an unofficial Test at the Colts Grounds.

The Sri Lankans have beaten the lowly placed Bangladeshis in the seven previous Tests between the two sides, winning four of them in fewer than three days and the remaining three early on the fourth morning.

Sri Lanka team manager Sriyan Samararatne commenting on the match preparations said “Besides the new opening combination we would have, the rest of the team is fit and eager to get on with the game. However the prevailing rainy conditions have hampered our preparations. We had a session of practices on Saturday and we will also have another session on Sunday morning. However the final Xl will be named once we have a look at the SSC wicket tomorrow morning”.

The most intriguing factor in this series will be whether the Sri Lankan champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will become the highest wicket taker in Test cricket history. So far Muralitharan has 674 wickets from 110 Test matches and is only 35 wickets behind the retired Australian leg spinner Shane Warne who bagged 708 wickets.

Bangladesh on their part have lost 40 of their 46 Test matches and has recorded only a solitary win against Zimbabwe in 1995, but, has shown more adaptation in the shorter version of the game. Adding to their woes, former skipper Habibul Bashar who led his team to an impressive World Cup quest, stepped down as the ODI skipper after their disastrous series against India last month, but was replaced entirely for the job with the appointment of twenty two year-old promising batsman Mohammed Ashraful.

However how the visiting team is going to cope with the Sri Lankan attack that boasts of players of the calibre of Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and young unorthodox tear-away Lasith Malinga would be anyone’s guess.

Ashraful leading his side in a Test for the first time said that they would not be looking for win against Sri Lanka, but, they would look to stretch the home side as much as they could during the next five days. However Ashraful took a century off the Sri Lankan attack as a sixteen-year old way back in 2001.

Sri Lanka from: Mahela Jayawardena ( captain), Kumar Sangakkara ( vice captain), Chamara Silva, T.M. Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardena, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Malinda Warnapura and Sujeewa Silva. Bangladesh from: Mohammed Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Bin Mortaza( vice captain), Kazi Habibul Bashar, Javed Omar Belim, Mehrab Hossain, Shahriar Nafees Ahmed, Kahandaker Md. Rajin Salah Alam, Shakib Al Hasan, Kahled Mashud, Sahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mohammed Sharif, Abdur Razak, Mohammed Rafique and Mushfiqur Rahim.