Sri Lanka trounced Bangladesh by an innings and 137 runs in the second Test Match of the on going 2nd Asian Test Championship on 8th September played at Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground. Unfortunately this was Bangladesh's fifth successive defeat in as many matches since their inaugural test match at Dhaka played in November last year. Nevertheless the cheerful aspect of the match for Bangladesh was their team gave a much-improved performance in the second innings. During the process they also earned a rare distinction when 17-year old Mohammad Ashraful broke the previous record for the youngest batsman to score a test century, incidentally this also made him the youngest test debutant to notch up a hundred.

Brief Review of the Match:
Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss and put Bangladesh into bat. The tourists were completely at sea against Muralitharan who claimed 5 for 13 and Chaminda Vaas who grabbed 3 for 47. The tourists were bowled out for their lowest total (90) in test cricket shortly before lunch on the first day consuming only 36.4 overs in 161 minutes. Sri Lanka in turn toyed with the Bangladesh attack and amassed a massive score of 555 for 5 wickets in 103.3 overs and declared their innings at tea on the second day. Jayasuriya scored 89 but such was the dominance of Sri Lankan batting that after him Marvan Atapattu after reaching (201) his 5th double century and Mahela Jayawardena after scoring 150 voluntarily retired. Kumar Sangakkara made 54. Skipper Naimur Rahman claimed 2 for 117 off 30.3 overs. Bangladesh in the second innings made a spirited fight back. A brilliant maiden century (114) by diminutive right-hander Mohammad Ashraful and equally responsible knocks by Aminul Islam (56) and skipper Naimur Rahman (48) enabled the minnows of the World Cricket reach a respectable total of 328. Off-spinner Muralitharan again troubled Bangladesh with five wickets for 98 runs to finish with a match haul of 10-111. This incidentally, took the great bowler to cross the 350 wickets mark in a record of 66 tests. The glorious knock of 114 by 17-year old Mohammad Ashraful improved Pakistan's Mushtaq Mohammad's record for youngest batsman to score a test century set at the age of 17-years and 81 days by scoring 101 against India in New Delhi in 1960-61. By virtue of this notable performance the teenager also broke the previous record for the youngest test debutant to score a century set by Zimbabwe's Hamilton Masakadza (17 years and 354 days) against the West Indies at Harare last July.

Finally a word about Bangladesh's over all performance in test cricket so far.
Bangladesh has lost all the first five test matches but it would be interesting to compare their performance with that of South Africa for first five test matches. The table below presents comparison of the two teams and reveals that Bangladesh has done better than South Africa had performed in the first five test matches:

A.   Results of First Five Test Matches:

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
South Africa	Lost by 8	Lost by an innings	Lost by an innings	Lost by 288	Lost by an innings
1888-1896	wickets	and 202 runs	and 189 runs	runs	and 197 runs
Bangladesh	Lost by 9	Lost by an innings	Lost by 8	Lost by an innings	Lost by an innings
2000-2001	wickets	and 32 runs	wickets	and 264 runs	and 137 runs

B.   First Ten Innings Score

Team	Ist	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
South Africa	84	129	47	43	97	83	93	30	151	134
Bangladesh	400	91	257	168/9	254	266	134	148	91	328

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