Close Sri Lanka 103 for 1 (M Atapattu 46*, K Sangakkara 27*) trail West Indies 448 all out (B Lara 178, C Hooper 69, M Muralitharan 6-126, C Vaas 4-95) by 335 runs
Scorecard

Sri Lanka staged an afternoon fightback at Galle, and ended the second day still behind West Indies, but in a much stronger position than they had been 24 hours earlier.

The catalyst for their comeback was, almost inevitably, Muttiah Muralitharan. After taking only one wicket from a marathon 43 overs on the first day, he grabbed 5 for 18 as West Indies lost their last six wickets for 25 runs.

The turning point of the day was the dismissal of Brian Lara for a majestic 168. He had been prepared to take on Murali, and it had worked. In the first four sessions of the match Lara's dominance had reduced Murali to the role of a containing bowler; his departure produced a transformation. Instantly Muralitharan looked likely to take a wicket with every delivery as he made the ball turn and spit, and the West Indian tail was bewildered. The persevering Chaminda Vaas took the chance to help himself to two wickets in the mopping-up exercise.

If the West Indian bowlers hoped that their innings had been torpedoed by a sudden deterioration of the pitch, the manner of the Sri Lankan reply put them right. Although Sanath Jayasuriya set off at a one-day pace and perished to a one-day shot - caught at backward point by Neil McGarrell after flashing at a wide one from Merv Dillon - the bowlers had little option but to wait for the batsmen to make mistakes. Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara were in no mood for generosity, and serenely steered Sri Lanka through the final hour.

The morning session had given no hint of the post-lunch fireworks, and followed a similar pattern to the first day: 93 runs for West Indies and one wicket for the increasingly weary Sri Lankan bowlers. The pitch showed no signs of having deteriorated overnight, and Lara and Carl Hooper resumed with the same positive attitude with which they had ended the first day. Hooper was all aggression, driving and cutting his way to 50 off 71 balls, while Lara was content to play second fiddle. Only the introduction of Muralitharan in the second hour encouraged Lara to attack.

It also brought a wicket. In his third over of the day Murali finally broke through, when an attempted flick to leg by Hooper took a leading edge and lobbed back to the bowler. From then on in it was plain sailing for Muralitharan.

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