Sa'adi Thawfeeq
TAUNTON, Tuesday - Sri Lankans were made to pay for dropping tall left-hander Mark Trescothick at 28, when he guided Somerset to a lunch score of 158 for two wickets on the first day of the 3-day tour match here today.
The 22-year-old uncapped Trescothick, dropped by Hashan Tillekeratne at first slip off medium-pacer Chandika Hathurusingha was unbeaten on 66 scored off 103 balls with 12 fours at the break. Mark Lathwell with an unbeaten 48 of 65 balls with seven fours, helped Trescothick add 93 in an unfinished third wicket partnership which has so far realised 93 runs.
Sri Lanka's only success of the morning was brought about by the Romesh Kaluwitharana-Pramodya Wickremasinghe combination. They accounted first for skipper Peter Bowler for 27 who attempted to glance down the leg side and the extra bounce saw Kaluwitharana covering good ground to hold the catch.
Bowler and Trescothick put on 47 for the first wicket off seven overs. Sri Lanka had another success in Wickremasinghe's opening spell of eight overs when he forced Richard Harden to edge one behind with a ball that left him. Lathwell and Trescothick played easily against some loose bowling by Sri Lankans whose morning performance was rather disappointing. Sri Lanka rested Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Muthiah Muralitharan and Suresh Perera for the game which is the second on the tour after the opening match - a one-day against Hampshire at Southampton was washed out by rain. Sanath Jayasuriya led the side.
Day 2: Sri Lanka reeling at 93 for 7 wickets
Sa'adi Thawfeeq
Sanath dismissed in controversial manner
TAUNTON, Wednesday - The dismissal of acting captain Sanath Jayasuriya in controversial circumstances on the first day of Sri Lanka's three-day tour match against Somerset brought a pall of gloom in the team dressing room here today.
The aggressive left-hander was given out hit wicket in the closing overs of the first day by former Test umpire Roy Palmer standing at square leg when no part of his body had touched the wicket.
Jayasuriya played a ball from 18-year-old left-arm seamer Matt Bulbeck and took off for a single when the fielding side appealed to the umpire pointing at the fallen leg bail.
Palmer gave Jayasuriya out much to the batsman's disbelief. He returned to the pavilion looking back at the umpire on several occasions.
Jayasuriya was thoroughly upset with the dismissal and according to Sri Lanka manager Ranjit Fernando, he was totally despondent in the dressing room, which is quite unusual for a man with a big heart.
``I am sure I didn't touch the wicket. If I had done so, the bail wouldn't have fallen inside the batting crease,'' said Jayasuriya. ``We come here to play cricket and to be dismissed in this manner is rather disappointing,'' he said.
The bail apparently was disturbed by the force of the wind, which was blowing across the ground. During the Somerset innings, wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana had constantly brought the fallen bails to the notice of the two umpires.
Jayasuriya's dismissal seemed to have an overall effect on the rest of his team, as they collapsed to 93 fot 7 at lunch on the second day in typical overcast English conditions with the moving ball always doing something.
Resuming from a shaky eight for two wickets, in reply to Somerset's 366 for six declared, Sri Lanka were done in by Bulbeck who pushed them on the back foot with two wickets in his third over of the morning. The teenager playing only his fifth first-class match for the county, and a product of the MRF Pace Academy in Madras, sent back both overnight batsmen Marvan Atapattu and Niroshan Bandaratilake within one run of each other.
Atapattu was trapped in front of the wicket for seven, and Bandaratilake who came as nightwatchman made 11 before being caught down the leg side with a ball that bounced more than he expected. Worse was to follow as another newcomer 23-year-old Benjamin Trott removed Mahela Jayawardene for three and Kaluwitharana for 21. The six foot, five inches tall right-arm fast-medium bowler bowled Jayewardene as he drove across the line, and yorked Kaluwitharana with a ball pitched on leg stump.
Philip Jones, the third seamer in the Somerset line-up joined his colleagues by forcing Chandika Hahturusingha to edge a catch to first slip at four.
Hashan Tillekeratne, who celebrated his 31st birthday took Sri Lanka to 93 for seven at lunch, four runs adrift of their lowest ever total in England - 97 against Gloucestershire at Bristol in 1991.
The obdurate left-hander was unbeaten on 30 with four fours at lunch with Kumara Dharmasena on nine. Sri Lanka require to score 216 if they are to avoid the ignominy of being asked to follow-on.
Twenty-five year-old right-hander Keith Parsons scored the first century against the Sri Lankan tourists when he made an unbeaten 101 in 208 minutes with 16 fours. Parsons and Adrian Pierson (39) put on 126 for the sixth wicket to further frustrate the Sri Lankan bowlers after Mark Trescothick (95) and Mark Lathwell (56) had added 118 for the third wicket.
Day 3: Arnold enters record books
Sa'adi Thawfeeq
TAUNTON, Thursday - At this moment of time, Russel Arnold should be a front-runner for a place in the Sri Lanka team after he had rescued them with a classy unbeaten double century to enable his team avert the follow-on and set Somerset with a target of 248 runs for victory in a minimum of 37 overs after tea on the final day of their 3-day tour fixture here today.
But the 24-year-old left-hander is in the tour party only as the third opener to Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu. In that aspect, Arnold's chances of making the Sri Lanka XI for the one-off Test against England which is more than a month away or for the triangular one-day games seems a forlorn thought. He could be considered one of the unluckiest cricketers to be in the game today.
Time and again on tours with Sri Lanka teams, Arnold has put forward his credentials in no uncertain terms, only to find himself relegated to the sidelines because of the established players.
In the Caribbean last year, Arnold scored 158 against Leeward Islands at St. John's, Antigua, but was not a contender for a Test place until Marvan Atapattu got injured, and he was drafted into the side to play in his third Test. Since then, he has not got a look-in. Even early this year in South Africa, Arnold was the only Sri Lankan batsman to score a century in a one-day side game, but he was never considered for any of the triangular games against South Africa and Pakistan.
By scoring a double century on his first appearance in a first-class match in England, Arnold entered the record books in a big way. He became only the fifth player to do so joining an elite band of batsmen like Australia's H.H. Massie (206 v Oxford University at Oxford, 1882), Bill Woodfull (201 v Essex at Leyton, 1926) and Don Bradman (236 v Worcestershire at Worcester, 1930) and Pakistani Saeed Anwar (219 n.o. v Glamorgan at Pontypridd, 1996).
Arnold also made a century in his first appearance in the West Indies and has done so in England. Only two other Sri Lankans had previously scored a hundred on debut in England. F.C. de Saram scored 176 for Oxford University v Gloucestershire at Oxford in 1934 and Duleep Mendis made 144 for Sri Lankans v East Africa on this ground in 1975.
Arnold and Hashan Tillekeratne put Sri Lanka in safe waters by extending their fourth wicket partnership to worth 199 runs in 169 minutes. Tillekeratne, another left-hander like Arnold made 82 off 134 balls with 12 fours before playing on to left-armer Mathew Bulbeck, after batting for just over an hour today.
Arnold, completed his century with a sweep of Pierson in 147 minutes and 113 balls (18 fours) on Wednesday, and moved to his 150 with great ease, batting for four hours and facing 196 balls. He hit 29 fours (including four all run) and had only 11 singles in the knock. His finest moment came five minutes before the lunch break when he cover drove Bulbeck for his 37th four to reach his double century. It took him 308 minutes and 254 balls.
Arnold's marathon effort was ended ten minutes after lunch, when he made his first mistake after a stay of 323 minutes. Attempting to drive Trescothick, he got an outside edge and was caught at slip by Harden for 209 scored off 270 balls with the help of 37 fours.
Trescothick also picked up Romesh Kaluwitharana for 33 as he attempted to hook and edged a catch to third slip.
Chandika Hathurusingha (34 with 2 fours) and Kumara Dharmasena (45 with 7 fours) got in some useful batting practice figuring in an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 75 in 56 minutes before the declaration.
Somerset struggle to force a draw
Sri Lanka at one time in the doldrums after being shot out for 130 in the first innings and asked to follow-on, had Somerset fighting to save the three-day tour match on the final day here today.
Somerset left with a victory target of 248 runs off a minimum of 37 overs, finally ended on 177 for seven wickets to draw the match.
They took the challenge offered by Sri Lanka and went for the runs with haste despite the loss of wickets at one end. But they had to put up the shutters when captain Peter Bowler was run out for 66 with the score at 155 for 7 and seven overs left. Overall, it was a splendid start to the first-class section of their tour for Sri Lanka after the opening game against Hampshire - a one- dayer at Southampton was washed out by rain.
Left-hander Russell Arnold, who made a memorable double century on his first appearance in England won the 500 pounds sterling Man-of-the-Match award.
Sri Lanka's next fixture is against reigning county champions Glamorgan at Cardiff on Saturday. The host will be without Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis who returned home after just four championships matches with an elbow injury.