Sri Lankan pair close in on world record partnership

COLOMBO, July 29 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara extended their partnership to 570 on the third morning of the first test against South Africa today their stand becoming the second highest in test history.

Resuming on 485 for two after batting through the entire second day, the third-wicket pair added a further 99 runs in the morning session to leave the hosts on 584-2, a lead of 415 runs with eight sessions remaining in the match.

After lunch, Jayawardene and Sangakkara will have an opportunity to the break the 576-run world record for the highest test partnership set by Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama back in 1997 against India.

Captain Jayawardene extended his score to 276 from 451 balls, the second highest score ever by a Sri Lankan batsman after Sanath Jayasuriya's 340 against India in 1997 and the highest by a Sri Lanka captain.

Sangakkara, the most cautious of the pair during the session, had reached 271 from 405 deliveries by the interval, surpassing his previous personal best of 270 scored against Zimbabwe in 2004.

Jayawardene and Sangakkara, both solid in defence and ruthless in dispatching any loose deliveries, hit a combined total of 66 fours and one six.

The duo became only the second pair in test history to score 250's in the same innings after Gary Sobers and Conrad Hunte first managed the feat for the West Indies back in 1957/58 against Pakistan at Kingston.

Their partnership is already a record for Sri Lanka against South Africa.

Neither batsman offered a chance during the session, although Jayawardene survived one strong lbw appeal off Makhaya Ntini and Sangakkara edged streakily through the slips off Andrew Hall.

Otherwise, the pair batted with the same elegance and faultless precision that had characterised their strokeplay on the first two days.

Left-arm spinner Nicky Boje bowled unchanged throughout the 32-over session, turning the occasional ball sharply and providing the main threat to the batsmen.

Despite beating the bat on a handful of occasions, Boje ended the session with figures of 0-172 from 51 overs of hard toil.

REUTERS PM SND1344