The Island, Monday 15th May, 2006 Avoid defeat London, Greater London - UNITED KINGDOM: , on 98, Sri Lanka gain respect pushed England Captain for a tight single (on left).Then ’s shy from mid- on missed the stumps at through Mahela ton the bowler’s end and Rex Clementine reporting 381 for six with T.M. Dilshan on 39 Apart from Jayawardene, Sidat Jayawardene dives (bot- from Lords and Chamara Kapugedara on five. Wettimuny, Duleep Mendis, Amal tom) at the crease. The Sri Lanka captain Mahela The 28-year-old who had made Silva and had ball went for four over- Jayawardene led from front and 107 at Lord’s four years ago was on made hundreds at the headquar- throws to give the bats- got into record books by becoming 35 when play resumed on the ters and while all of those knocks man a five and his fourth the first Sri Lankan to score two fourth morning with his team in certainly have a sentimental value trouble at 183 for three needing a only a very few will disagree that Test against centuries at the home of cricket in England. That was the first Test Match against further 176 to avoid innings defeat. this is the most effective of those England here at the Lord’s cricket Given the way the top order had three figure scores. Jayawardene’s second ground. Jayawardene who had top batted in the first innings it looked He reached the milestone when Test ton too in Lords. AFP scored in the first innings with 61 a tall order for Sri Lanka, but he hurried for a quick single to / Martyn Hayhow came to Sri Lanka’s rescue with Jayawardene came up with a spir- complete his 99th run and Sajid his 14th Test hundred that helped ited display that saved the team Mahamood attempting a direct hit Sri Lanka to wipe off the first from humiliation. from mid on send the ball for four innings deficit of 359 and then He took the responsibility onto overthrows and that took the bats- extend the lead to 22 with still four his shoulders as the senior most man pass his 14th hundred. remaining. When play batsmen in the side and this effort Jayawardene who went onto was stopped due to bad light on the will certainly be talked for many become the third Sri Lankan to penultimate day Sri Lanka were more years to come. make a hundred and a fifty in a Test against England after Duleep Mendis (111 and 94 at Lord’s in 1984), Russel Arnold (62 and 109 at Old Trafford in 2002) and T.M. Dilshan (63 and 100 at Kandy in 2003) also made his highest score at Lord’s and ensured the game will go the full distance, which most thought would end in less than five days. Sri Lanka now will have to bat for at least one more full session to save the Test given the attack they are playing against a hard-hitting line up that com- prises of , on 30 by off the once again. Famous for his acts of what’s expected of him in the last Sri Lanka lose to Hong Kong 45-14 Andrew Flintoff and Kevin of Flintoff and in the very defiance the 29-year-old tried to cut few games. Pieterson. next over put a rising from Mahamood A 68 run stand between The Sri Lankans have had sev- down a straight forward chance at and was caught behind to leave Sri Jayawardene and Dilshan for the eral umpiring decisions going the third when Jayawardene Lanka 303 for five, still needing 53 sixth helped Sri Lanka to against them in the game and was on 58. was runs to wipe off the deficit. wipe off the target and after the Jayawardene became the latest the unlucky bowler. Samaraweera, who collected a captain’s dismissal, young victim when umpire Alim Dar Soon after the lunch break, pair in Sri Lanka’s warm up game Kapugedara, on a King’s pair, ruled the Sri Lankan captain Maharoof took the attack onto the against England ‘A’has made 0 and made sure to avoid the unwanted caught behind to give Geraint opposition bowlers and from 40 got six in this Test and has failed to do credit. Jones his 100th dismissal off the to his second Test fifty with two bowling of Flintoff. The decision strokes with a straight driven four could cost Sri Lanka dearly but and then a pulled six to the grand Scoreboard stand off . Jayawardene certainly has won England 1st Innings 551-6 dec (K Pietersen Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-119, 3-178, 4-291, 5-303 many hearts with his fantastic 119 In the next over, he cut Sajid 158, M Trescothick 106, A Cook 89, P To bat: C Vaas, N Kulasekara, M Muralitharan in 220 balls over six hours with 12 Mahmood for two consecutive Collingwood 57; M Muralitharan 3-158) Bowling: Hoggard 32-5-72-1; Flintoff 31-5-86-1; fours. fours and got carried away with Sri Lanka 1st Innings 192 (M Jayawardene 61; Mahmood 21-1-81-2 (1w); Plunkett 19-4-69-0 Farveez Maharoof, who had things and two balls later drove M Hoggard 4-27, S Mahmood 3-50) (2nb); Collingwood 6-1-12-0 (2nb, 1w); Panesar been sent as the night watchman, straight to the hands of Pieterson Sri Lanka 2nd Innings (overnight: 183-3) 21-6-37-2; at extra cover ending his stubborn J. Mubarak b Hoggard 6 England: Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, provided company to Jayawardene U. Tharanga c Jones b Panesar 52 , , Paul as the pair batted without being resistance. K. Sangakkara c Jones b Panesar 65 Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff (capt), Geraint separated in the first session and Sri Lanka desperately needed M. Jayawardene c Jones b. Flintoff 119 Jones (wkt), Liam Plunkett, Matthew Hoggard, in the process added 113 runs for the under pressure Thilan F. Maharoof c Pietersen b Mahmood 59 Sajid Mahmood, the fourth wicket. Samaraweera to hang around with T. Samaraweera c Jones b Mahmood 6 Toss: England Sri Lanka had some luck soon Jayawardene at least until tea but T. Dilshan 39 Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Rudi Koertzen he got out playing a shocking shot C. Kapugedara not out 5 (RSA) after England took the second new Extras (b9, lb15, w2, nb4) 30 TV umpire: Nigel Llong (ENG) ball in the 82nd over of the and the memories of Sri Lanka’s Total (6 wkts, 130 overs) 381 Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS) innings. Maharoof was dropped first innings collapse rekindled

Hockey Asian Games Qualifiers in Bangladesh Nadal beat Federer Rome, May 14, 2006 - World number one, Switzerland’s Roger Federer lost the Rome Masters Sri Lanka register first win Men’s Open Tennis, better known as Campionati by Rukshan Razak succeeded in capitalizing a penal- Bangladesh, after two matches Internazionali d´Italia, when he crashed against num- Sri Lanka posted their first ty corner in the 19th minute of apiece. Sri Lanka also kept their ber two Rafael Nadal of Spain [6-7(0), 7-6 (5), 6-4, 2- win when they defeated Iran by 2- the match, bringing the first hopes alive to make a room in the 6, 7-6 (5)] after a thrilling final yesterday (Sunday). 0 in the Jamuna Bank Asian point on boards, and Sri Lankan last four obtaining three points Games qualifying round hockey Captain A.M.S.B. from same number of matches. at the Maulana Bhashani Hockey Wickramasinghe doubled the Despite losing the keenly con- Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh lead, in the 40th minute, also tested encounter yesterday,Hong yesterday. with a penalty corner. Kong too were still on the race to Sri Lanka, who suffered a set In the other match yesterday, join the other three top teams back in the first match of the Oman surpassed a big hurdle on hoping to qualify for the next tournament having conceded a 0- their way to book a final round Asian Games, held in Qatar, with 3 defeat to Bangladesh, regis- berth of the Asian Games after three points along with Sri 95 Hong Kong - CHINA: Hong Kong players celebrate a try dur- tered their win against Iran yes- snatching a hard fought 5-4 win Lanka and Chinese Taipei. ing their Rugby World Cup 2007 qualifier match against Sri terday after leading the first half over Hong Kong. Today’s matches: By virtue of this win, Oman Singapore Vs Sri Lanka (2 Lanka played in Hong Kong yesterday (May 14). Hong Kong 1-0. It was Sri Lanka star player stay on top of the points table p.m.) and Bangladesh Vs Iran (4 defeated Sri Lanka 45-14. AFP / Philippe Lopez Prassanna Abeyarathne who with six points along with p.m.).

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