Jayewardene shines for Lanka

Sri Lanka and South Africa shared the three-match series one-all with each team winning one Test Sri Lanka won the first at Galle by an innings and 15 runs, and South Africa the second at Kandy by seven runs.

Arjuna Ranatunga, the former captain making his final international appearance, bowed out in style by scoring an unbeaten 28 off 42 balls with four fours. He displayed his repertoire of strokes to the spectators who had been admitted free of charge shortly before tea to bid him farewell.

Jayewardene shared in stands of 82 with Aravinda de Silva who scored 41 with the aid of a runner after injuring his leg, and an unfinished 78 with Ranatunga, after Sri Lanka had got off to a bad start losing the first three wickets for 37 runs.

Marvan Atapattu was dismissed for nought when he chased a wide delivery from Shaun Pollock and gave a catch to gully fielder Gary Kirsten. Kumar Sangakkara, promoted in the batting order to push the scoring rate, did not survive for long. At six, he attempted to cut Nantie Hayward and offered an easy catch to Jonty Rhodes at point. Left-arm spinner Paul Adams, ignored totally in the first innings, took a wicket in his first over of the match when he bowled Sanath Jayasuriya for 17 to make Sri Lanka 37 for 3.

Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, named man-of-the-match, returned his 22nd five wickets in an innings haul to reduce South Africa to 241 for nine declared at lunch on the final day. He finished the match with a bag of eight wickets taking his series tally to 26 wickets, which equalled his own Sri Lanka record for the series set up in Pakistan early this year.

South Africa resuming at 157 for five, added 84 runs in the morning session, losing four wickets. Lance Klusener was named man-of-the-series for his contribution with the bat, especially on sub-continent pitches.

SCOREBOARD

South Africa (1st innings) 279

Sri Lanka (1st innings) 258

South Africa (2nd innings; overnight 157-5): Gary Kirsten lbw b Muralitharan 40, Neil McKenzie run out 17, Jacques Kallis b De Silva 0, Darryll Cullinan c Arnold b Muralitharan 3, Jonty Rhodes c Jayewardene b Muralitharan 54, Lance Klusener c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 35, Mark Boucher b Muralitharan 25, Shaun Pollock c Sangakkara b Jayasuriya 13, Nicky Boje not out 29, Paul Adams c & b Jayasuriya 3, Nantie Hayward not out 3; Extras: (lb4, nb15) 19. Total (for nine wickets decl in 113 overs) 241
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-50, 3-59, 4-107, 5-152, 6-169, 7-197, 8-220, 9-236
Bowling: Vaas 10-2-22-0, Perera 2-0-13-0, Arnold 2.1-0-6-0, De Silva 24.5-7-49-1, Muralitharan 45.5-14-68-5, Jayasuriya 24-4-56-2, Chandana 5-0-23-0.

Sri Lanka (2nd innings): Maravan Atapattu c Kirsten b Pollock 0, Sanath Jayasuriya b Adams 17, Kumara Sangakkara c Rhodes b Hayward 6, Mahela Jayawardene not out 101, Aravinda de Silva lbw b Klusener 41, Arjuna Ranatunga not out 28; Extras: (nb2) 2. Total (for 4 wickets in 67.1 overs) 195.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-20, 3-37, 4-119.
Bowling: Pollock 6-3-13-1, Hayward 9-1-21-1, Kallis 4-2-4-0, Klusener 12.1-4-20-0, Adams 16-3-72-1, Boje 20-4-65-0.

Result: Match drawn.