COLOMBO, 27 March 2004 — Sri Lanka grabbed three quick wickets in the closing session to gain an edge in the third and final cricket Test against Australia here yesterday.
Trailing by six runs, Australia lost Matthew Hayden (28), Ricky Ponting (20) and nightwatchman Jason Gillespie (one) before reaching 80-3 at stumps on the third day. They are now 74 ahead with seven wickets in hand.
Opener Justin Langer was batting on 29.
Hayden was trapped leg-before by Vaas, while Ponting was caught in the slips off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. Gillespie was also held in the slips off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan off what turned out to be the day’s last ball.
Earlier, Hashan Tillakaratne salvaged his pride with an unbeaten half-century as Sri Lanka survived Gillespie’s three-wicket haul to gain a slender lead. The left-hander, under pressure to retain the captaincy after losing the series and suffering a slump in batting form, slammed a solid 74 not out to help his team post 407 in reply to Australia’s 401.
Sri Lanka were all out in the final session after resuming at 239-2.
Gillespie claimed three wickets, including two off successive balls in the day’s opening over in a superb exhibition of fast bowling on a slow pitch. Leg-spinner Shane Warne and paceman Michael Kasprowicz grabbed two apiece, while part-time left-arm spinner Darren Lehmann got one to finish with 3-50.
Warne missed out on a chance of becoming the first bowler in Test history to claim five successive hauls of five or more wickets in an innings of the same series. The Australian spinner, with four consecutive five-wicket hauls to his credit in the past two matches, struck when Sri Lanka had already lost six batsmen.
Warne, however, kept his hopes alive of breaking retired West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh’s world record of 519 wickets in this match. He now needs seven more in the second innings. Sri Lanka were indebted to Tillakaratne for gaining a slender advantage.
The Sri Lankan captain came in to bat when Gillespie was on a hat trick after dismissing Mahela Jayawardene at his overnight score of 29 and then Tillakaratne Dilshan off consecutive balls.
Tillakaratne denied Gillespie a hat trick when he glanced for a four. He then held the innings together, adding 71 for the sixth wicket with Thilan Samaraweera (41) and 51 for the next with Chaminda Vaas (24). He completed his first half-century of the series in style, fluently driving Warne through the covers for a boundary. He hit 10 fours in his 20th Test half-century.
Vaas was Warne’s first victim as he stepped out to attempt a big shot, but was beaten by a big turning delivery and was bowled. Warne also had Herath caught by Damien Martyn in the covers to finish with 2-115.
Sri Lanka slipped from 240-2 to 256-5 following Gillespie’s double strike in the morning. Gillespie had Jayawardene caught behind with his third delivery that moved away a bit, and then breached the defense of Dilshan with the next ball. Marvan Atapattu added nine to his overnight score of 109 before being bowled by Kasprowicz, beaten by one that came in sharply. He struck 19 fours in his 219-ball knock.
