Bangladesh stutter in second innings

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, March 2 (Reuters) Bangladesh got off to a good start in their second innings against Sri Lanka but stumbled to 104 for four at tea on the third day of the first test today.

Bangladesh had a 47-run partnership between openers Javed Omar and Nafees Iqbal, before Iqbal lobbed a catch to Kumar Sangakkara off Dilhara Fernando on six.

Fernando also picked up Omar (31) with lbw.

Malinga Bandara trapped Habibul Bashar (12) lbw while Muttiah Muralitharan removed Bangladesh's first innings centurion Mohammad Asharul on one run, leaving him one wicket shy of the 1,000 mark for Sri Lanka.

Left-hand batsman Nafees Shahriar and Khaled Mashud were not out with 26 and 10 runs respectively.

Sri Lanka were all out for 338 in reply to Bangladesh's first inning score of 319.

Resuming on their overnight 313 for six, Sri Lanka slumped to 338 all out and were forced to settle for a first-innings advantage of only 19 runs.

Openers Omar (15) and Iqbal (5) then took the hosts to 28 for no loss at the lunch interval.

Sri Lanka lost their remaining four wickets after just 67 minutes of the morning session.

Shahadat Hossain took the day's first wicket, removing Thilan Samaraweera on 58 caught by Omar.

Dilhara Fernando (six) and Muralitharan (five) were Hossain's next victims, both caught by Shahriar Nafees, before Malinga Bandara was run out for naught.

Hossain finished with test best figures of 4-83.

REUTERS PDS RN1433