Praveen’s six wickets put Sri Lanka in command

PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka: Left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama took six wickets on debut to dismiss Bangladesh for 251 and give Sri Lanka a commanding lead Saturday on day three of the second Test.

The 22-year-old Jayawickrama’s six for 92 bettered Upul Chandana’s record of six for 179 in 1999 when he won his first cap against Pakistan in Dhaka.

Jayawickrama, a replacement for injured Lasith Embuldeniya, has had a modest record in first class cricket, but impressed at Pallekele, giving Sri Lanka a healthy 242-run first-innings lead.

“Just wanted to bowl a lot of dot balls and build pressure,” Jayawickrama told reporters.

“That was the game plan. Glad it all worked today, but we have more work to do over the next two days,” he said, adding that Tamim’s wicket was the one he really wanted.

He stopped before he could reach a century.

Sri Lanka, who declared earlier in the day on 493 for seven, did not enforce the follow-on and were 17 for two at stumps with two days’ play remaining and a 259-run lead. —AFP

Score Board

Sri Lanka won toss

Sri Lanka 1st innings 493-7 dec (D. Karunaratne 118, L. Thirimanne 140)

Bangladesh 1st innings

Tamim c Thirimanne b Jayawickrama 92

Saif Hassan c de Silva b Jayawickrama 25

Najmul c Thirimanne b R. Mendis 0

Mominul Haque lbw R. Mendis 49

Mushfiqur Rahim lbw Jayawickrama 40

Liton Das c Thirimanne b Jayawickrama 8

Mehidy Hasan lbw Jayawickrama 16

Taijul Islam hit wicket b Lakmal 9

Taskin Ahmed lbw Jayawickrama 0

Shoriful Islam b Lakmal 0

Abu Jayed not out 0

Extras (2b, 9lb, 1nb) 12

Total (10 wkts, 83 overs) 251

Fall: 1-98 (Hassan), 2-99 (Shanto), 3-151 (Iqbal), 4-214 (Rahim), 5-224 (Haque), 6-224 (Liton), 7-241 (Hasan), 8-243 (Taskin), 9-246 (S. Islam), 10-251 (T. Islam)

Bowling: Lakmal 10-0-30-2, Fernando 7-1-19-0 (n1), Mathews 2-0-7-0, Mendis 31-7-86-2, Jayawickrama 32-7-92-6, De Silva 1-0-6-0.

Sri Lanka 2nd innings

Lahiri Thirimanne c Shanto b M. Hassan 2

Dimuth Karunaratne not out 13

Oshada Fernando st Liton b T Islam 1

Angelo Mathews not out 1

Total (2 wkts, 7 overs) 17

Fall: 1-14 (Thirimanne), 2-15 (Fernando)

Yet to be bat: Dhananjaya de Silva, Pathum Nissanka, Niroshan Dickwella, Ramesh Mendis, Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama

Bowling: Mehidy Hasan 4-2-7-1, Shoriful Islam 1-0-8-0, Taijul Islam 2-1-2-1

Umpires: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI) and Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)