Sangakkara fulfils Lord’s ‘ton’ dream
Kumar Sangakkara added yet another missing feather to his almost perfectly decorated hat, when he registered his maiden hundred at Lord’s, the Home of Cricket, to guide Sri Lanka out of woods on the third day of the first cricket test here yesterday.
The 36-year-old former Sri Lanka captain, who is playing very likely his last test at the hallowed ground, drove part time spinner Joe Root crisply through the covers for his tenth boundary to reach his 36th Test career century off 182 balls.The stylish left hander made the maximum of ideal conditions to score 147 in 258 balls with 16 boundaries and saw the visitors safely past the follow-on mark before returning to the pavilion.
Kumar Sangakkara (C) celebrates reaching a century with Mahela Jayawardene (R) on the third day of the first cricket Test match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord's cricket ground in London on June 14, 2014. AFP
Skipper Angelo Mathews also enjoyed the excellent batting conditions to thump an unbeaten 79 as Sri Lanka finished the day on 415 for 7 in reply to England’s 575 for 9.
Sangakkara who on previous day became the eighth highest run scorer in Test history surpassing Australia’s Allan Border, immediately turned towards the Sri Lanka dressing room upon reaching three figures and pumped both his arms in the air before his close pal Mahela Jayawardene sprinted from the non-striker’s end to jump onto the celebrating batsman’s back.
The MCC members in their formal attire at the exclusive confines of the historic Lord’s members’ stand gave a vigorous standing ovation as Sangakkara permanently etched his place in the pantheon of all time greats of the game while a packed Lord’s crowd soaked in one of the finest moments of world cricket.
A Lord’s Test century is a feat that has eluded all time greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Rickey Ponting and Jacques Kallis while Sangakkara’s effort interestingly comes after his century at the same venue in the fourth ODI a fortnight ago.
Sri Lanka who were chasing an initial target of 375 to avoid a follow-on, built their innings around the brilliant chanceless innings of Sangakkara who shared three superb partnerships with Kaushal Silva, Jayawardene and Mathews.
Opener Silva who batted judiciously on the opening day to make 62 could add just one more to his score in the morning before a bouncer from paceman James Anderson brushed his protruding bat and sailed straight into the gloves of waiting wicket keeper Matt Prior as the compact right hander crouched to leave the ball.
Silva who hit 10 fours in his 160 ball innings, put on 97 for the second wicket with Sangakkara.
Jayawardene and Sangakkara carried Sri Lanka solidly to lunch without further losses at 212 for two as it was the home side bowlers’ turn to curse the unresponsive pitch that rendered no support to them.
Jayawardene reached his half century three balls after Sangakkara’s hundred, but the new ball taken by England two overs later brought them immediate results, breaking the 126-run third wicket stand on 277.
Just in the second over with the new ball, Stuart Broad trapped Jayawardene lbw with an in-swinging delivery which was proven even after the batsman’s referral. Jayawardene made 55 in 105 balls with seven fours.
Anderson also struck with the new ball when he dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne for just two when the left hander flicked a ball straight to Sam Robson at mid wicket.
Skipper Angelo Mathews then joined Sangakkara to add another 96 for the fifth wicket before Sangakkara provided debutant Moeen Ali a memorable maiden Test wicket. Sangakkara attempted to square cut a wide, turning ball from the off spinner and managed only a thin top edge to Prior.
Mathews faced 127 balls and hit eight fours as England hit back with three late wickets in the final session.
Wicket keeper batsman Prasanna Jayawardene who replaced Sangakkara made only six and became recalled paceman Laim Plunkett’s first Test victim in seven years when Ian Bell at leg slip held a ball that was travelling fast after Jayawardene pulled it firmly off the hips.
Nuwan Kulasekera also didn’t last long before edging a moving delivery from Chris Jordan to Prior.
Sri Lanka put Vithanage on stand-by for injured Jayawardena
Sri Lanka has asked Kithruwan Vithanage to be on standby as they might ask him to be flown in for the second Test starting at Headingly on Friday, pending the fitness of wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardene who had injured his finger while warming up for the second day at the current first Test at Lord’s.
Kaushal Silva kept wickets early in the first session of the second day as Jayawardene had been rushed to hospital for an x-ray which proved no fracture. But the wicket keeper batsman had not been fully comfortable as he kept wickets on Friday and then batted yesterday under pain killing injections and will undergo a fitness check before the second Test. As there are three other wicket keepers Silva, Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal in the squad already, Sri Lanka has decided to keep left hand batsman Vithanage as their option.
Power failure
There was a power failure at Lord’s ground yesterday after lunch for more than an hour which affected all sections of the ground, including the media box.
It also affected the scoreboard which is electronically operated and was stuck when Sangakkara was on 99 and didn’t correct score until the batsman reached 103, well after he had completed his historic hundred.
| England media mock Sri Lanka’s “pop-gun” attack
Sri Lanka’s pedestrian bowling attack on a flatbed at Lord’s was the laughing stock for England’s cricket writers on the second day of the First cricket Test. The wicket which looked green and fast initially proved to be a deception, as it turned into a dead batting friendly track very quickly and by the second day, was as docile as slow Sri Lankan wickets. However, The Sri Lankan pace attack which resorted to a ploy of employing an attack of short-pitched deliveries looked average at its best and was never a threat for the English batsmen who scored at six runs an over in the latter stages of their first innings. “Australia’s pace attack had been world-class; Sri Lanka’s, having been commendably full of length on the first morning, was not overtly better on the second day than Bangladesh’s had been in their two Tests at Lord’s” wrote Scyld Berry in the Daily Telegraph. Former England cricketer Derek Pringle who also writes to the same publications described the Sri Lankan attack this way: Stephen Brinkley of The Independent stated “Sri Lanka’s attack was of the pop-gun variety and by the end of the innings it was less dangerous than that, say an elastic band catapult”. Former England captain Nasser Hussain wrote “But this Lord’s pitch is very flat, the outfield is fast, and Sri Lanka’s bowling attack lacks any real firepower. It’s a good start — and no more than that” in his column in the Daily Mail. “This was a bountiful Lord’s batting surface and the Sri Lanka attack had serious limitations, but Root’s response over eight-and-a-quarter hours was impeccable”. Sri Lanka team has employed former great Chaminda Vaas as fast bowling coach at a fantastic salary, while there also two other highly rated fast bowling coaches Champaka Ramanayake and Anusha Samaranayake in the SLC academy, though no fast bowlers of the class of Lasith Malinga has come out of the mill since of late. It also worthy to mention that Sri Lanka’s leading pace bowler at Test level, Suranga Lakmal is injured and was not available for this Test. – CdeS
Scoreboard England 1st innings 575/9 dec in 130.3 overs (Joe Root 200 n.o, Matt Prior 86, Ian Bell 56, Moeen Ali 48, Stuart Broad 47, Nuwan Pradeep 4 for 123, Shaminda Eranga 3 for 163) |