Uumpire Rudi Koertzen apologised to Kumar Sangakkara for giving him out in controversial circumstances within sight of his seventh Test double-century.
HOBART: South African umpire Rudi Koertzen apologised to Kumar Sangakkara for giving him out in controversial circumstances within sight of his seventh Test double-century here on Tuesday.
The star batsman was stunned when Koertzen gave him out to a catch by Ricky Ponting, which effectively ended Sri Lanka's remote chances of snatching victory from the Australians after being set a massive 507 runs to win.
Australia won the second Test by 96 runs to clinch the series 2-0.
Television replays showed the ball bowled by Stuart Clark appeared to deflect off Sangakkara's shoulder to Ponting at second slip.
During his innings, the elegant 30-year-old right-hander passed Aravinda de Silva's 167 in Brisbane in 1989 as the highest score by a Sri Lankan in this country.
Sangakkara faced 282 balls and hit 28 boundaries and a six in his 431-minute vigil at the crease.
He came on to the field after the fall of the last wicket and put his arm around Koertzen's shoulder.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene said Koertzen had apologized to Sangakkara for giving him out.
"Rudi came and said sorry to him. But that's it. Kumar being Kumar was fine with it," Jayawardene said.
"He was very disappointed at the particular moment but when you sit back after half an hour, you know it's a mistake made by a human and that's it."
Sangakkara's sublime innings was the talk of the final day.
"Kumar's innings was fantastic. One of the best I've seen. He batted the plan we had for him after he got his hundred yesterday, to bat through the day today while the other guys rotate around him so that we can challenge the 500-run total," Jayawardene said.
"Unfortunately, the other guys couldn't do it. But Kumar batted exceptionally well. The way he handled the situation was brilliant.
"I was very disappointed the way we got out. He's very upset about it, but that's how the game goes I guess."
Ricky Ponting, who led Australia to their 14th consecutive Test win, was also lavish in his praise of
Sangakkara.
"He played beautifully today. I thought the way he struck the ball from about 120 onwards was some of the best hitting that you'll probably ever see with his back to the wall and running out of partners," Ponting said.
"It was a terrific knock. He's obviously been in great form lately. I read in the paper this morning that's six hundreds in his last 12 innings so he's in some good touch.
"He's a very, very good player, he's one of the best Test batsmen going around."
Sangakkara has now scored 5,741 runs in 68 Tests at an average of 55.73.
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