Atapattu anchors Sri Lanka to comfort zone
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Your support makes all the difference.The Sri Lankan openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu set the platform for their team's five-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first one-day international in Colombo yesterday.
Atapattu, opening in the ab-sence of the dropped Romesh Kaluwitharana, hit 83 off 101 balls, while his captain and opening partner Jayasuriya blasted 40 off 32 as Sri Lanka chased just 227.
Once Jayasuriya's explosive cameo was over, the same approach was picked up by Kumar Sangakkara, who hit 29 off 23, including seven fours.
Other useful contributions came from Mahela Jayawardene, 18, and Russel Arnold, 29, the latter still at the crease with Hasantha Fernando when Sri Lanka passed the Bang-ladeshi total with less than four overs left. Khaled Mahmud took two wickets, claiming the scalps of both Sangakkara and Jayawardene.
Earlier, middle-order batsmen Tushar Imran and Khaled Mashud provided the bulk of the runs for the tourists, who totalled 226 for eight off their 50 overs having won the toss.
Imran struck 61 and Mashud 54, lifting the visitors from 86 for four to 176 for five by the time Imran misjudged a top spinner from Muttiah Muralitharan and gave a simple catch to Arnold at square leg. Mashud was there for most of the rest of the innings until he tried to play an inside-out shot and was well caught by Jayasuriya at mid-off.
Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando and Chamila Gamage all finished with two wickets apiece for Sri Lanka. The teams will play the second one-dayer in Colombo today and their final match on Wednesday.
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