Muttiah Muralitharan grabbed six for 36 on his return to international cricket after almost a year as Sri Lanka thumped the weakened West Indies by six wickets in the first cricket Test here on Saturday. The off-spinner, out of action for 11 months due to a shoulder injury, led Sri Lanka's victory march in their 150th Test match with his 45th haul of five wickets or more in an innings.
Seamer Chaminda Vaas chipped in with four for 15 as Sri Lanka skittled out the second-string West Indies for 113 in their second knock in the morning session of the fourth day.
Set a modest target of 172, the hosts survived a Jermaine Lawson scare to romp home after tea and take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Fast bowler Lawson removed Sanath Jayasuriya (15) and Kumar Sangakkara off successive deliveries and then dismissed captain Marvan Atapattu (28) to reduce Sri Lanka to 49 for three.
All three batsmen fell to brilliant diving catches by Xavier Marshall at point, Sylvester Joseph in the slips and teenaged wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin.
But the fourth-wicket pair of Mahela Jayawardena and Thilan Samaraweera put on 86 to dampen West Indian hopes of pulling off an extraordinary upset.
Samaraweera hit 51 before he was trapped leg-before by Lawson, who finished with four wickets in each innings.
Jayawardena remained unbeaten on 41 as Tillakaratne Dilshan (30 not out) smashed Tino Best through the covers for the winning boundary. It was Sri Lanka's first Test match at home since the tsunamis ravaged the island nation seven months ago and marked Australian Tom Moody's successful debut as national coach.
It was, however, Muralitharan who stole the show, returning to his famed wicket-taking ways after finishing with one for 56 in the first innings.
The 31-year-old was Test cricket's most successful bowler with 532 wickets when he fell and injured his right shoulder during a Test match against South Africa at home last August.
The injury allowed Australian Shane Warne to skip past Muralitharan and the leg-spinner begins the Ashes series against England next week with a world record tally of 583 from 123 Tests.
Muralitharan now has 539 wickets from 92 games.
Muralitharan grabbed two wickets off consecutive balls after the West Indies began the day at 59 for six.
The off-spinner had overnight batsman Omari Banks caught at short-leg for seven.
Next ball, Daren Powell played Muralitharan into Jayawardena's hands at silly point as the West Indies slipped to 69 for eight.
SCOREBOARD:
WEST INDIES (1st innings): 285 (S. Chanderpaul 69, D. Ramdin 56, L. Malinga 4-71, C. Vaas 3-35):
SRI LANKA (1st innings): 227 (C. Vaas 49, M. Muralitharan 36, J. Lawson 4-59):
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WEST INDIES (2nd innings-overnight 59 for six):
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S. Joseph c Jayawardena b Muralitharan 2
X. Marshall lbw b Vaas 2
R. Morton lbw b Vaas 0
N. Deonarine lbw b Vaas 7
S. Chanderpaul not out 48
D. Smith lbw b Vaas 0
D. Ramdin lbw b Muralitharan 11
O. Banks c Dilshan b Muralitharan 7
D. Powell c Jayawardena b Muralitharan 0
T. Best st Sangakkara b Muralitharan 27
J. Lawson c sub (Chandana) b Muralitharan 0
EXTRAS: (B-8, NB-1) 9
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TOTAL: (all out) 113
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FALL OF WICKET: 1-3, 2-3, 3-15, 4-21, 5-21, 6-48, 7-69, 8-69, 9-113
BOWLING: Vaas 18-9-15-4, Malinga 12-5-22-0, Muralitharan 21-9-36-6, Jayasuriya 6-1-20-0, Herath 3-0-12-0
OVERS: 60
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SRI LANKA (2nd innings):
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S. Jayasuriya c Marshall b Lawson 15
M. Atapattu c Ramdin b Lawson 28
K. Sangakkara c Joseph b Lawson 0
M. Jayawardena not out 41
T. Samaraweera lbw b Lawson 51
T. Dilshan not out 30
EXTRAS: (LB-6, NB-3, W-1) 10
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TOTAL: (for four wickets) 175
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FALL OF WICKETS: 1-34, 2-34, 3-49, 4-135.
BOWLING: Powell 8-0-44-0, Lawson 12-2-43-4, Best 8.3-1-40-0, Banks 7-0-31-0, Smith 3-1-11-0
OVERS: 38.3
UMPIRES: Simon Taufel (AUS) and Nadeem Ghauri (PAK)
TV UMPIRE: Peter Manuel (SRI)
MATCH REFEREE: Mike Procter (RSA).
Sri Lanka won by six wickets to lead 1-0 in two-match series.
Second Test starts in Kandy on July 22.
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