1st Test
Bangladesh were given their eighth innings defeat in ten Test matches by Sri Lanka, losing after seven sessions of play in Colombo, despite a promising start. They lost Shahriar Nafees early, as he was bowled between bat and pad by Lasith Malinga, but Javed Omar made a gutsy 30, and Habibul Bashar got his second successive Test half-century, as Bangladesh made their way to 155 for 2.
Then, Bangladesh lost their heads. Ashraful attempted a big heave off Herath, but was caught by Dilhara Fernando in the deep. Two overs later, Tushar Imran was bowled by Herath, but the killing blow came with the next delivery. A throw from close in ran out Habibul Bashar - he had managed to get his bat over the line, but it bounced up and did not touch the ground when the ball hit the stumps. Bangladesh had lost three wickets for one run, and more was to come, as Muttiah Muralitharan and Herath took one wicket each within the space of six deliveries. At 158 for 7, Bangladesh batted for face, and debutant Syed Rasel tried with a streaky 19. He was last out, stumped off Herath, who ended with four for 38. In return, Sri Lanka played a bit more sedately, and none of their batsmen passed fifty in the 44 overs in their innings on day one, yet they only trailed 28 runs with seven wickets in hand.
Sri Lanka continued on their merry path in the second innings, as Mohammad Rafique and Enamul Haque toiled for the better part of the morning and afternoon sessions to little reward. A slow pitch rewarded gritty batting, as shown by Thilan Samaraweera's four-hour 78. Fifties also came from Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan - the latter was last out, missing an attempted pull shot as the ball from Rasel clattered into his stumps, bowled for 86. Rafique had cleaned up the lower order earlier, removing Chaminda Vaas, Herath and Muralitharan en route to his sixth five-wicket-haul of his career, but Dilhara Fernando had lasted for 30 minutes with Dilshan when Rasel broke through. With the score 370 for 9, Sri Lanka didn't bother to send the rabbit Lasith Malinga in to bat, and Marvan Atapattu declared.
Bangladesh were sent in to bat, and Lasith Malinga took one wicket in three expensive opening overs, but Shahriar Nafees and Habibul Bashar took the fight to the Sri Lankan seam bowlers. With the score 35 for 1 after 7 overs, Atapattu brought on off spinner Muralitharan - who had quietly taken three for 42 in the first innings - and he immediately delivered. His third ball to Shahriar was left alone, and clattered into the opener's stumps - out for 13. Mohammad Ashraful only lasted one ball, trapped lbw by the doosra. Rain then provided relief for the Bangladeshis, as the second day's play was ended prematurely, but they looked to struggle to another innings defeat.
Indeed, the third day became a nightmare. On a typical Sri Lankan turning track, Muralitharan finished with the fine figures of six for 18, as the Bangladeshis were bamboozled. Habibul Bashar started the procession with the ninth delivery of the day, which he edged to wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara, and from then on, only Khaled Mashud lasted for more than half an hour. He was also the only one to get into double figures, as Bangladesh were all out for 86, their lowest Test score of their five-year Test history to date. Cricinfo scorecard
2nd Test
- Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.
Bangladesh competed for half a session in the second Test, before crashing to a familiar innings defeat - their 24th in 40 Tests. In that first half-session, however, they showed a great deal of seam bowling competence. Their new ball bowlers Syed Rasel and Shahadat Hossain took two wickets each as Sri Lanka's top order struggled. It was Sri Lanka who had chosen to bat, but the Bangladeshis got some movement with the ball early on, and after Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya had added 28 for the first wicket, Shahadat struck in the sixth over.
First, he bowled a ball that Atapattu found prudent to leave alone, and nearly knocked down the off-stump of the Sri Lankan captain. Two balls later, a ball moving away from the batsman found the outside edge, and Atapattu was gone for 11. Jayasuriya was nearly run out in the next over, before perishing lbw, and Rasel and Shahadat then got two balls to nip back in and crash into the batsmen's stumps. In the space of 13 overs, Bangladesh had taken four wickets for 48 runs - only the second time in their five-year history that the first four wickets of their opponents had fallen for less than 50.
Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan battled well, however, adding 69 before lunch, although Dilshan benefitted from a dropped catch by Mohammad Ashraful. Ashraful and Bangladesh were to pay the highest price for this let-off. After lunch, the seamers were nowhere near as effective, and Dilshan plundered runs with ease. Bangladesh's spinners, Mohammad Rafique and Enamul Haque jnr were ineffective as Dilshan and Samaraweera passed milestones with ease. The 100 partnership came up shortly after lunch, and then fifty for each individual, and Dilshan reached 133 not out by the end of the session, the partnership having added 220 for the fifth wicket - needing 14 in the evening session to overcome the previous Sri Lankan Test record for the fifth wicket, set against Bangladesh at the very same ground three years earlier.
They passed that record shortly after tea, and went on to add 280, before Dilshan nicked behind to Khaled Mashud and a stroke-filled three-and-a-half-hour innings came to an end. He recorded his highest Test score of his career to date, with 168. Samaraweera was out four short of his highest Test score, making 138, as Bangladesh got two wickets with the new ball - yet Sri Lanka had turned 48 for 4 to 449 for 7 in the space of two and a half sessions. Chaminda Vaas added insult to injury, smacking ten fours and a six to bring up 61 before the close of play, and he would begin the second day 13 short of his highest Test score.
Rasel ended that dream for Vaas, though, as the Sri Lankan dragged the ball into his stumps to be bowled for 65. Sri Lanka, once again, declared without giving Lasith Malinga the chance to bat, leaving Bangladesh 457 to hit for first-innings parity. It started well, as Javed Omar and Shahriar Nafees added 16 in 5 overs, but Shahriar edged a delivery from Malinga into the diving keeper's hands, and Habibul Bashar came in for a short visit at the crease. He managed 18, before he was caught off Dilhara Fernando, and Fernando went on to take three wickets as Bangladesh crawled to 80 for 4 at lunch. Only Mohammad Ashraful had passed 20 of the top five, but he did survive a close lbw shout on 14 due to Fernando bowling a no-ball.
Ashraful went on after lunch, making 42 before a slower ball from Fernando ended his 43-run stand with Aftab Ahmed, and after that, wickets fell quickly. Muttiah Muralitharan added three to his series tally, which now stood at 12, and eight people were caught in the Bangladeshi innings, which lasted 45.4 overs. It would have been even less but for a determined half-hour between Mashud and Enamul - the pair added 25 in 9 overs before Mashud was stumped shortly after tea. Bangladesh were asked to follow on, and once again gave up catches - Nafees Iqbal had been promoted to opener, and made 30 quickly, before giving up a leg side catch to Sangakkara. Earlier, Javed Omar and Habibul Bashar had been out to expansive shots for low scores, and once again it was down to Ashraful. He recorded 21 runs in the evening session, at an unusually slow pace, while Shahriar Nafees were left to hit the big shots, taking eight fours off the Sri Lankan bowlers as he moved to 51. Two balls before the close of play, however, he edged to Samaraweera at slip, giving Muralitharan another wicket, and Bangladesh closed on 131 for 4, still 135 short of Sri Lanka's first innings score.
Bangladesh's resistance lasted for 26.4 overs on the third morning, very similar to their effort in the first Test. Vaas broke through first, removing Ashraful and nightwatchman Shahadat in successive overs, as Bangladesh's last recognised batting partnership was in with the score 139 for 6. Aftab Ahmed and Khaled Mashud held out for 11 overs, but Rangana Herath took the wicket of Aftab and the last two batsmen, leaving Bangladesh all out for 197 - an improvement by 27 runs in the loss margin, but still a comprehensive defeat. (Cricinfo scorecard)
