<i>Mahela ton drives SL</i>

Captain Mahela Jayawardene struck an unbeaten century to put Sri Lanka in full command against Bangladesh on the third day of the first Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
The visitors moved to a 406-run lead after adding 291 for 4 in their second innings following Bangladesh's abysmal first innings showing of 178 all out. The teams will come back to the Test match tomorrow after today's rest day due to the general elections in the country.
Jayawardene rode out some anxious moments and survived a close run-out opportunity early in his innings to compile a most fulfilling century. The stylish right-hander struck fifteen boundaries and a straight six off Shakib Al Hasan in an innings that spanned five hours.
He reached his hundred off 177 balls and four balls later he was caught behind by Mushfiqur Rahim but Shahadat Hossain had bowled a no ball. In his 219-ball knock of 129 runs, Jayawardene was particularly harsh on the erratic Shahadat, hitting him for seven boundaries but Mashrafe Bin Mortaza troubled him early on.
After Mahbubul Alam removed Malinda Warnapura for eight, Mashrafe took the wicket of Michael Vandort to reduce the visitors to 18 for two after Muttiah Muralidaran took the last Bangladesh wicket to finish with figures of six for 49 after the Tigers added just one run to their overnight total.
Kumar Sangakkara gave his captain good support in rebuilding the innings, adding 135 runs for the third wicket. The left-hander made a patient 67 off 134 balls with eight boundaries before being caught well down the leg-side by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur off left-arm spinner Mehrab Hossain when he tried to guide the ball down to fine-leg.
Arrival of first innings hero Thilan Samaraweera did not put much of a smile on the Tigers' face as the belligerent right-hander smacked eight boundaries in his 116-ball knock of 62. He and Jayawardene had an interesting battle with paceman Shahadat who repeatedly bounced the pair well into the tea session.
On a few occasions, the bowler was on top with top-edges streaking over the square-leg fieldsman but they survived to take the visitors' lead over the 400-run mark. Samaraweera was eventually cleaned up by an unrewarded Mashrafe and soon after, the two umpires offered the batsmen light.