Muttiah Muralitharan bagged four wickets to help Sri Lanka crush Zimbabwe by a record innings and 166 runs in the first Test here on Monday for their sixth successive

win.

It was Sri Lanka's biggest victory in 1 16 Tests, having beaten Bangladesh by an innings and 137 runs in the Asian Test Championship here in September.

Zimbabwe, trailing by 402 runs, were shot out for 236 in the second innings on the fourth day to suffer their heaviest defeat against the

hosts in 11 Tests, the previous margin being by an innings and 77 runs here in 1996-97.

It was the hosts' sixth victory in a row since August, having already beaten India and Bangladesh once and then the West Indies 3-0 in their last five matches.

Star off-spinner Muralitharan continued to strike it rich, grabbing 4-35 in his disciplined 36 overs in the second innings to take his match-tally to 8-88.

He is now two short of becoming the seventh-highest wickettaker in the world, having captured 382 in 70 matches.

West Indian Courtney Walsh heads the list with 519 wickets, followed by Indian Kapil Dev (434), New Zealander Richard Hadlee (431), Australian Shane Warne (424), Pakistan's Wasim Akram (414), West Indian Curtly Ambrose (405) and Englishman Ian Botham (383).

The Zimbabwean batting was vulnerable to pace also, with seamers Charitha Buddika and Nuwan Zoysa sharing four wickets to keep the pressure from the other end.

Nightwatchman Travis Friend was the top-scorer with 44 in a feeble batting performance by the tourists for the second time in the one-sided contest. Heath Streak contributed 36 late in the innings.

Muralitharan grabbed two wickets in the post-lunch session after Buddika had struck twice in successive overs in the morning to put Zimbabwe in trouble.

The 29-year-old spinner bowled Friend, the only batsman to defy the Sri Lankan attack. The Zimbabwean batted for nearly three hours, hitting six fours in his 142-ball knock.

He then dismissed Grant Flower (18), caught off the gloves at silly mid-off by a diving Hashan Tillakaratne after hitting two boundaries. The tourists suffered a big blow when a prolific Andy Flower was trapped leg-before by left-arm seamer Nuwan Zosya for 10 just before lunch.

The 21-year-old Buddika did the early damage when he removed skipper Stuart Carlisle (32) and Gavin Rennie (four) in his two overs.

Zimbabwe, resuming at 64-2 after a rest day on Sunday, batted steadily for an hour before being rocked by Buddika, playing only his second Test.

Buddika got his first Test wicket when he had Carlisle caught by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara.

Rennie did not last long, edging Buddika to Mahela Jayawardene in the slips after making just four.