/ 11 July 2007

Bangladesh struggle on rain-hit opening day in Sri Lanka

Bangladesh slumped to 72-4 on a rain-hit opening day of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

The tourists lost the wickets of Javed Omar (8) and Habibul Bashar (18) before tea and then Rajin Saleh for a duck and Shariar Nafees for 29 in the final session.

Only 29 overs were possible in the day as frequent showers interrupted play for long periods.

At the close, skipper Mohammad Ashraful was on four, with Tushar Imran on six.

Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, playing in his home town, was the most successful of the bowlers, claiming 2-10 from nine overs.

Omar was trapped lbw by seamer Lasith Malinga in the third over of the morning.

After a long break either side of lunch, Farveez Maharoof surprised Bashar with a delivery that cut back and lifted sharply to brush his gloves on the way to wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene.

Play was suspended again after just 5.2 overs in the afternoon session, before Sri Lanka struck a double blow late in the day.

Saleh was deceived by Muralitharan’s doosra and was caught at slip and Nafees spooned a drive to Sujeewa de Silva at extra cover.

Sri Lanka made three changes to the team that took an unbeatable 2-0 series lead in Colombo last week.

Opener Upul Tharanga returned after injury in place of Malinda Warnapura.

Fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando were rested to make room for all-rounder Maharoof and left-arm seamer Sujeewa de Silva.

Bangladesh made two changes, dropping batsman Mehrab Hossain Jnr and medium pacer Mohammad Sharif. Batsman Tushar Imran and left-armer Syed Rasel were included in the side. — Reuters