— PHOTO: AP

ANOTHER FIVER: Muttiah Muralitharan takes his Test haul to 650 after claiming five wickets in the second Test against South Africa.

COLOMBO : Muttiah Muralitharan claimed his 55th five-wicket haul in Test cricket as Sri Lanka dismissed South Africa for 361 in the last over of the opening day of the second Test here on Friday.

Muralitharan captured five for 128 after the seamers had set up the game for Sri Lanka with early breakthroughs.

When the veteran off-spinner claimed his fifth wicket with the penultimate ball of the day he also became only the second bowler in the world to complete 650 Test wickets after Australia's Shane Warne. South African captain Ashwell Prince and A.B. de Villiers made gritty half-centuries as the tourists rallied after a disappointing start. Prince's decision to bat backfired when the openers were dismissed without scoring and the tourists had slumped to 70 for four when De Villiers joined his captain 25 minutes before lunch.

De Villiers (95), who mixed aggression with caution to put South Africa back in the game, added 161 runs with Prince, a new record for the fifth wicket in Tests between these countries. De Villiers reached his 10th Test half century from 57 balls, including 10 boundaries, while Prince took 86 balls to complete his third Test 50.

Prince was dismissed in the second ball after the tea interval and de Villiers was unfortunate to be given out just five runs short of a well deserved fourth Test hundred. He was adjudged caught behind off Malinga but television replays showed that the bat had only hit the ground and had not appeared to make contact with the ball. With wickets falling at regular intervals towards the end, Shaun Pollock went after the bowling and completed his 15th Test 50 in only 53 balls, hitting four boundaries and a six.

Sri Lanka opted for the second new ball two overs after it was due and that only allowed Pollock to free his arms.

Earlier, in the morning, it was Chaminda Vaas who started South Africa's slide with a wicket off the second ball and then Malinga struck twice by removing Andrew Hall (0), caught at second slip, and bowling Jacques Rudolph through the gate for 13. Malinga was denied a third wicket when wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene put a simple chance down with Hashim Amla on 13. Amla reached 40 in 47 balls before he was trapped by Muralitharan. . — Agencies

SCOREBOARD

South Africa — 1st innings: H. Gibbs lbw b Vaas 0, A. Hall c Dilshan b Malinga 0, J. Rudolph b Malinga 13, H. Amla lbw b Muralitharan 40, A. Prince c P. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 86, A.B. de Villiers c P. Jayawardene b Malinga 95, M. Boucher b Muralitharan 32, S. Pollock (not out) 57, N. Boje c Sangakkara b Maharoof 11, D. Steyn c Jayasuriya b Muralitharan 6, M. Ntini c Maharoof b Muralitharan 13, Extras (w-1, nb-7) 8, Total (in 89.5 overs) 361.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-4, 3-31, 4-70, 5-231, 6-256, 7-273, 8-307, 9-327.

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 18-4-71-1, Malinga 18-4-81-3, Muralitharan 33.5-2-128-5, Maharoof 15-2-52-1, Jayasuriya 5-0-29-0.

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