Muralitharan puts Bangladesh in a spin

KANDY, Sri Lanka, July 12 (Reuters) Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan took six wickets to help bowl out Bangladesh for 131 on the rain-hit second day of the third and final test today.

The start of play was delayed by rain but Sri Lanka still had time to finish off the Bangladesh innings, which had resumed on 72 for four.

Heavy rain then prevented the Sri Lanka innings from starting after early lunch was called. Play is expected to resume after tea but more weather interruptions are likely.

Muralitharan, playing in his home town, was the chief threat, finishing with figures of six for 28 from 14.5 overs, his 59th five-wicket haul in his 113th test.

He took his career tally to 694 wickets, just 14 short of Australian leg spinner Shane Warne's world record 708 victims.

Bangladesh started promisingly with skipper Mohammad Ashraful (26) and Tushar Imran (17) extending their fifth-wicket stand to 34.

Left-armer Sujeewa de Silva broke through when Mahela Jayawardene held a straightforward slip catch off a loose drive from Imran.

That was soon followed by the dismissal of Ashraful, caught behind off De Silva, and the last six wickets tumbled for just 33 runs in 13.3 overs.

Muralitharan should have had a wicket off his first delivery, Ashraful getting a reprieve after edging a wild drive, but he soon struck with a brilliant one-handed catch to dismiss Mashrafe Mortaza.

Muralitharan claimed another caught and bowled when Mohammad Rafique top-edged a slog-sweep before Shahdat Hossain and Syed Rasel were snapped up at bat-pad.

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