Close Sri Lanka 334 for 4 (Arnold 44*, Tillekeratne 35*)
scorecard

Sri Lanka were in a dominant position at the close of the second day, mainly thanks to a 212-ball 137 from Sanath Jayasuriya. But, despite the scintillating batting, much of the focus remained on Muttiah Muralitharan who came achingly close to taking the tenth Zimbabwean wicket he needed for a place in the history books.

After Jayasuriya fell, at 273 for 4, miscuing a sweep off Grant Flower to Trevor Gripper at square leg, Sri Lanka, who had scored at nearly five runs an over for much of the day, adopted a less aggressive approach. Hashan Tillekeratne and Russel Arnold added 61 stately runs. Arnold, aiming to secure his place, fought his way grittily to 44* while Tillekeratne survived a caught-and-bowled chance off Flower to reach 35*.

Jayasuriya had earlier made silky-smooth progress to his ninth Test century, packing his innings full of trademark strokes. He reached his century with successive pulls for four off Trevor Gripper and later tonked the hapless Henry Olonga for a massive six. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene supported him with delightful cameos, sharing in partnerships of 71 and 120 for the second and third wickets. Sangakkara sprinted to 42 from 44 balls before he was surprised by a quicker delivery from Travis Friend and trod on his stumps (82 for 2). Jayawardene's wristy 58 was curtailed by a scuttling ball from Grant Flower which struck on the pads (202 for 3).

Flower was the most successful Zimbabwean bowler, claiming 2 for 39, although the unlucky Heath Streak probably bowled better. Olonga was particularly expensive, conceding 88 runs (including 6 no balls) in 15 wayward overs.

Olonga had been the villain earlier in the day, needlessly getting out to Chaminda Vaas to deny Muralitharan the chance of claiming all ten wickets. Despite suffering from a finger injury, Murali was determined to take the field, and bowled the first over of the day to Friend. The batsman, true to his name, did all he could to oblige him, offering a bat-pad catch and nearly falling lbw, but somehow survived the over. Vaas then went through the motions, bowling slow and wide outside the off stump. Olonga - who clearly has no sense of history - then flailed madly at the sixth ball of the over and snicked a catch to Sangakkara, who wasn't able to drop it. The celebrations at the fall of the wicket were understandably muted, and an air of anticlimax haunted the whole day.

It says much about the relative positions of these sides that Muralitharan can claim 9 for 51 and yet still leave the field unhappy. Zimbabwe, who now face a second innings defeat, would warmly welcome such disappointment.

Zimbabwe 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Trevor Gripper, 3 Stuart Carlisle (capt), 4 Gavin Rennie, 5 Andy Flower (wk), 6 Grant Flower, 7 Craig Wishart, 8 Heath Streak, 9 Travis Friend, 10 Doug Marillier, 11 Henry Olonga.

Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Russel Arnold, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Hashan Tillekeratne, 7 Thilan Samaraweera, 8 Muttiah Muralitharan, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Charitha Buddika.

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