Atapattu dishes double treat

BULAWAYO, NOV 21: The Flower brothers Grant (48: 118b, 3x4) and Andrew (batting 15) alongwith all-rounder Neil Johnson (52 batting: 166b,...

BULAWAYO, NOV 21: The Flower brothers Grant (48: 118b, 3×4) and Andrew (batting 15) alongwith all-rounder Neil Johnson (52 batting: 166b, 7×4, 1×6) kept the rampaging Sri Lankans at bay on the penultimate day of the first Test here this evening.

Grant and Johnson first laid the foundations with a 45-run association after left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas sent back Murray Goodwin (2) and Gavin Rennie (2) with only 27 runs on the board.

Though off-spinner Mutthiah Muralitharan claimed Grant Flower, brother Andrew kept the fightback on with Johnson. The duo have so far strung an unfinished stand worth 64 runs. Zimbabwe, thus ended the day on 136-3, six runs short of making Sri Lanka bat again. Play was called off 50 minutes ahead of schedule owing to bad light.

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Earlier, Maravan Atapattu was the toast of the day crafting a superb double century and carried his bat as Sri Lanka surged to a 142-run lead.Atapattu was at the crease for more than ten hours in compiling his second highest Test score. He faced 437balls and hit 24 fours. His previous double century was also against Zimbabwe 223 at Kandy in the 1997-98 season.Zimbabwe made 286 in their first innings.

Atapattu came to the wicket on 178 after play had been delayed an hour because some water had got on to a small area of the wicket after heavy rain yesterday. But that small area was on a length at one end and had to be completely dried.

He began exactly as he left off overnight, with caution and concentration. His decision not to hit out because he was now partnered by tail-enders was justified as first Chaminda Vaas and then Indika Gallage stayed a while at the crease.

Scoreboard
Zimbabwe (1st innings): 286
Sri Lanka (1st innings; overnight 358-6): MS Atapattu not out 216, S Jayasuriya lbw b A Whittall 49, R Arnold c A Flower b Olonga 7, M Jayawardene lbw b Brent 17, T Dilshan lbw b Olonga 9, R Kaluwitharana c A Flower b Olonga 30, I de Saram c A Flower b Brent 39, C Vaas c Campbell b Strang 9, IS Gallage c G Flower bStrang 3, P Wickramasinghe c A Flower b Strang 13, M Muralitharan c G Flower b Olonga 6; Extras: (b12, lb11, w1, nb6) 30. Total: (all out, 147 overs) 428
Fall of wickets: 1-85, 2-98, 3-141, 4-159, 5-238, 6-345, 7-372, 8-390, 9-417
Bowling: Olonga 32-6-103-4 (2nb, 1w), Strang 30-9-91-3 (3nb), Brent 32-12-55-2, A Whittall 35-6-105-1 (1nb), G Whittall 14-3-48-0, G Flower 4-2-3-0
Zimbabwe (2nd innings): G Flower c Dilshan b Muralitharan 48, G Rennie c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 2, M Goodwin c Dilshan b Vaas 2, N Johnson batting 52, A Flower batting 15; Extras: (b1, lb4, nb12) 17. Total: (3 wickets, 49 overs) 136
To Bat: A Campbell, G Whittall, G Brent, B Strang, A Whittall, H Olonga
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-27, 3-72
Bowling: Vaas 13-4-27-2 (2nb), Gallage 11-4-24-0 (3nb), Wickramasinghe 8-1-20-0 (1nb), Muralitharan 14-3-50-1 (6nb), Arnold 2-0-9-0, Jayasuriya 1-0-1-0.
Umpires: KC Barbour & EA Nicholls (WI). TV Umpire: Ian Robinson. MatchReferee: JL Hendriks (WI).