Close Zimbabwe 18 for 0 trail Sri Lanka 418 (Chandana 92, Samaraweera 76, Jayawardene 76) by 400 runs
scorecard

The second day's play at Galle produced 193 runs and four wickets from 87.4 overs: it's fair to say it wasn't a thriller. It ended with Zimbabwe needing another 201 to avoid the follow-on on a wearing pitch that is already serving Muttiah Muraltharan well. A whitewash is still on the cards.

The highlight of the day was Upul Chandana's Test-best 92, which took Sri Lanka to yet another imposing first-innings total. And though their 418 took up 158.4 overs, that looked positively frisky when the Zimbabwe openers Trevor Gripper and Stuart Carlisle got to work. In 19 overs before the close they dead-batted Zimbabwe to 18 for 0: Carlisle made 13 from 63 balls, Gripper 3 from 51.

There were a few scares for the Zims as Muralitharan (6-3-3-0) and Chaminda Vaas (6-5-1-0) probed relentlessly, although Gripper looked all at sea as he groped at Murali. The pitch should deteriorate as the match goes on, and with Murali's added incentive of needing five wickets to reach 400 in Tests, Sri Lanka will be confident of rounding off a 3-0 clean sweep.

Their strong position is largely owing to an eighth-wicket partnership of 146 between Chandana and Thilan Samaraweera, a Test record for Sri Lanka, which wrested the initiative back after Zimbabwe had regained a toe-hold in a soporific first session.

The pair came together at 254 for 7, after Vaas had been trapped lbw by Heath Streak for 8 in the seventh over of the morning. For a tedious 90 minutes they poked a straight bat at everything Zimbabwe could offer. Grant Flower, bowling Ashley Giles-style over the wicket into the rough, kept things tight from one end, and though Chandana welcomed Doug Marillier back into the attack with two off-side boundaries, Sri Lanka were content to regroup after losing four wickets for 32 runs.

The pair took all the honours in the second session, scoring 92 unbeaten runs, exactly twice the total managed in the morning. Chandana scored 60 of these, mixing solid defence with some excellent footwork. Tired of playing the waiting game, he took to the spinners with gusto, especially Gripper, whom he smote for three fours.

At tea Sri Lanka were already handily placed at 383 for 7, on a dry pitch whose cracks were widening with every delivery. But neither Chandana nor Samaraweera was able to reach three figures as the last three wickets fell in quick succession.

Chandana was the first to go, mistiming a lofted drive off Marillier to Stuart Carlisle at mid-off (400 for 8), but Samaraweera, who had plodded along gamely, was unconcerned by the activity at the other end. In the end, having made 76, he plodded once too often, and found himself stranded mid-pitch as Charitha Buddika scampered off for a swift legside single (413 for 9). Marillier rounded things off to finish with 4 for 101.

Teams
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Russel Arnold, 6 Hashan Tillekaratne, 7 Thilan Samaraweera, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Charitha Buddika, 11 Upul Chandana.

Zimbabwe 1 Trevor Gripper, 2 Dion Ebrahim, 3 Stuart Carlisle (capt), 4 Gavin Rennie, 5 Andy Flower (wk), 6 Grant Flower, 7 Craig Wishart, 8 Heath Streak, 9 Travis Friend, 10 Doug Marillier, 11 Henry Olonga.

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