Murali's milestone

Spinner reaches 400 wickets, Sri Lanka seals win

Muttiah Muralitharan finished with nine wickets in the third test against Zimbabwe, taking his career tally to 404. AP

GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Deadly bowling by spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya clinched Sri Lanka a 315-run victory over Zimbabwe on the fourth day of the third and final test match in Galle on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka bundled Zimbabwe out cheaply in its second innings during a dramatic finish to the series, completing a 3-0 rubber triumph.

Sri Lanka, which claimed five Zimbabwe wickets for six runs to secure a first-innings lead of 182, declared its second innings closed at 212 for two.

Set a massive victory target of 395, Zimbabwe's batting crumbled again in the evening as it got bowled out for 79 in 43.3 overs.

The victory stretched Sri Lanka's winning sequence to eight consecutive test matches.

Ace spinner Muralitharan, who Tuesday joined cricket's hall of fame by becoming the youngest bowler to take 400 wickets, finished the test with a haul of nine for 91 and was named the Man of the Match.

In a sensational 43-minute session of play in the morning, Muralitharan reached the landmark in his 72nd test, which was eight games faster than New Zealand's Richard Hadlee, the previous quickest.

Murali joins greats LONDON (Reuters) -- Conjuring sinuous flight succeeded by abrupt spin from an extravagant wrist action, Muttiah Muralitharan can fairly claim to be the finest off-spinner to walk on to a cricket field. At the age of 29, the personable Sri Lankan on Tuesday became the youngest man to take 400 test wickets. Playing in only his 72nd test, Muralitharan has also needed fewer matches than any of his six predecessors to reach the landmark. Full story

Muralitharan, 29, became the first Sri Lankan bowler to claim 400 wickets and erased Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne's record of being the youngest bowler to achieve the feat.

Zimbabwean batsmen were all out after adding six runs to their overnight score of 230 for five, tumbling to superb Sri Lankan spin bowling, including Muralitharan's history making spell.

Muralitharan started the day with 397 wickets. He took his 398th wicket with his first delivery when he trapped Grant Flower leg before.

Jayasuriya grabbed two quick wickets with his flat left-arm spin to record his best test figures of five for 43.

With Jayasuriya in devastating form, it appeared at one stage that Muralitharan would have to wait for Zimbabwe's second innings.

But in his 59th over, Muralitharan claimed the record when he bowled both Travis Friend and last batsman Henry Olonga with successive deliveries.

Muralitharan finished with the innings figure of five for 67, the 33rd time he has taken five wickets in an innings.

The Muralitharan-Jayasuriya combination created havoc again in the evening session after Sri Lanka scored briskly to declare its second innings.

Muralitharan claimed four for 24 and Jayasuriya four for 31 to wrap up the test with a day to spare.

Between the two Zimbabwe knocks, opener Marvan Atapattu slammed his ninth test century, hitting 11 boundaries to post an unbeaten 100 off 126 balls as Sri Lanka accumulated quick runs.

Atapattu also shared an opening partnership of 75 with Jayasuriya, who made 36 before edging a catch to slip to give fast bowler Henry Olonga his first wicket of the series.

Kumar Sangakkara hit a brisk 56 not out to facilitate Sri Lanka's early declaration.

 

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