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Landmark day for Herath as Sri Lanka surge to victory

Sri Lanka captain Rangana Herath

Rangana Herath became the most successful left-arm spinner in Test history on Saturday as Sri Lanka completed an emphatic 259-run win over Bangladesh in the opening contest of their two-match series.

Bangladesh subsided from 67 without loss to 197 all out on the final day in Galle, Herath the chief destroyer with figures of 6-59.

The Sri Lanka skipper's third wicket saw him move past former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori's haul of 362 Test scalps, which had previously represented the most by any left-arm spinner.

Herath now sits 19th in the list of Test wicket-takers with 366 victims, having also overtaken Imran Khan courtesy of his latest match-winning display.

Bangladesh made an abysmal start to day five. Soumya Sarkar had raced to 53 on the previous evening, but lasted just two balls on the resumption of play as he was bowled by Asela Gunaratne - although the batsman initially thought he had been given out caught behind and tried to review the decision.

Dilruwan Perera trapped Mominul Haque lbw and had Tamim Iqbal caught at first slip, before Herath took centre stage - removing Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah in the same over to pull level with Vettori.

There was a brief rally from the tourists, courtesy of a fifty stand between Mushfiqur Rahim (34) and Liton Das (35) prior to lunch.

However, Mushfiqur was caught down the leg side off Lakshan Sandakan (1-29) from the second ball of the afternoon session and the end was not long in coming thereafter.

Herath's landmark wicket arrived when Das was caught at cover via a leading edge.

And the remaining three wickets all fell to Herath as Bangladesh's tail offered little resistance.

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