COLOMBO, 14 September 2005 — Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan grabbed two wickets with successive balls at the end of yesterday’s play to leave Bangladesh facing an enormous task to avoid defeat in the opening Test.

Bangladesh, trailing by 182 runs after the first innings, were tottering at 36-3 in their second innings when bad light and rain stopped play with 12 overs remaining on the second day.

Skipper Habibul Bashar, who top-scored in the first innings with 84, was batting on 13 with Tushar Imran, who had yet to open his account. The tourists walked off still 146 runs behind with only seven wickets in hand.

Off-spinner Muralitharan was pressed into the attack in the eighth over and struck with his third delivery when he bowled debutant Shahriar Nafees (13) with a ‘doosra’.

The ball spun sharply into the left-hander and went between the legs before hitting the stumps. Muralitharan then trapped Mohammad Ashraful leg-before with his next delivery to leave Bangladesh struggling to avoid a big defeat.

Paceman Lasith Malinga was the other successful bowler when he had Javed Omar caught behind for nine with his first ball.

Sri Lanka earlier scored 370-9 declared in their first innings in reply to their opponents’ 188, thanks to solid half-centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan (86), Thilan Samaraweera (78) and Mahela Jayawardene (63).

Left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique was the only bowler to test the Sri Lankan batsmen on a slow turning pitch as he finished with 5-114, his sixth haul of five or more wickets in an innings.

He, however, received no support from fellow-spinner Enamul Haque who gave away 106 runs in 33 wicketless overs. Resuming at 160-3, Sri Lanka batted steadily for more than two sessions before declaring their innings closed immediately after Dilshan’s dismissal. Dilshan was bowled off-stump while attempting to pull debutant seamer Syed Rasel in the first over after Bangladesh had taken the second new ball. He hit eight fours in his fourth half-century. He put his team in a commanding position after Samaraweera and Jayawardene had added 101 for the fourth wicket.

Bangladesh, missing strike bowlers Mashrafe Mortaza and Tapash Baisya due to injuries, managed only one wicket in the morning session when Rafique had Jayawardene caught by wicket-keeper Khaled Mashud.

Jayawardene, who became the fifth Sri Lankan to complete 5,000 Test runs during his 23rd half-century, hit one six and seven fours.

Samaraweera batted slowly, adding 45 to his overnight score of 33 in more than three hours. He hit seven fours in his 10th half-century before being caught behind off Rafique.

Rafique trapped Chaminda Vaas leg-before and then had Rangana Herath caught behind.