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| Thursday, 22 July 2004 |
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Lanka annihilate Pakistan by Sa'adi Thawfeeq Sri Lanka not only skittled Pakistan out for their lowest total in 100 one-day contests between the two countries but also picked up a useful bonus point on their way to an impressive seven-wicket win in their phase 2 Asia Cup match played under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. If Sri Lanka can pick up another bonus point and win against Bangladesh on Friday at the same venue, it will certainly put them in the final regardless of the result against India in their final phase 2 game scheduled for July 27 (Tuesday). Following a great game of cricket at Dambulla on Sunday between Sri Lanka and India, yesterday's contest was totally one-sided after Sri Lanka skittled Pakistan out for 122 in 39.5 overs and then overcame some testing fast bowling from Shoaib Akhtar and Co to achieve victory in the 32nd over. They needed to top the Pakistan total inside 40 overs to achieve the bonus point. Although the required run rate they were left with did not demand any big hitting Sri Lanka were not given a cakewalk but made to fight for victory by Akhtar, Sami, Shabbir and Razzaq who made use of the bounce on the pitch to maximum advantage to make life a little uncomfortable for the batsmen. Avishka Gunawardene enjoying a good series with two fifties tucked under his belt already took the brunt of the firepower Pakistan hurled at Sri Lanka. For two hours he batted with great resolve to grind out 26 off 88 balls (2 fours). Not the most elegant of batsmen he displayed bulldog courage to blunt the quicks. He underwent some torrid moments against them getting hit on the arms and body several times and also playing and missing on an equal number of occasions. He was also dropped twice at 8 and 18 and survived a confident lbw shout off a Sami no-ball. Jayasuriya making a return after a side strain kept him out of the Indian game also faced some lethal deliveries to score 20 out of an opening stand of 51 off 70 balls before edging Sami behind the wicket. Razzaq struck twice to send back Atapattu (19) and Gunawardene in successive overs, but Sangakkara (14) and Jayawardene (19) counter attacked to see Sri Lanka through. Spearheaded by another match-winning bowling performance from the lanky left-arm fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa, Sri Lanka came up with a brilliant display on the field to knock the stuffing out of Pakistan. Pakistan contributed to their own downfall after they chose to bat first on a good batting track. Their previous lowest total against Sri Lanka was 131 at Sharjah in 1996-97. When they bowled they conceded 25 extras, which included 17 wides and four no-balls. Openers Imran Nazir and Yasir Hameed put on 19 in six overs before Zoysa broke through by having Nazir caught off the outside edge by Jayawardene at slip for 14. Zoysa struck again four overs later when Shoaib Malik square cut to Dilshan at backward point. The Pakistan innings went into further decline when Muralitharan bowled skipper Inzmam-ul-Haq off bat and pad for nine and Yousuf Youhanna was run out for a duck by a smart piece of fielding at silly point by Dilshan. Maharoof taking over from Vaas (0/14 off 7 overs) had the wicket of Younis Khan when Jayawardene pulled off a great one-handed catch diving to his left at slip to make Pakistan 51-5. Abdul Razzaq led a recovery of sorts making a top score of 43 off 73 balls (4 fours) and opener Hameed made 22 off 57 balls with one six. The rest of the batting apart from Nazir failed to get into double figures as Sri Lanka accounted for three run outs. Overall it was a poor cricket on the part of Pakistan. On their day they can be brilliant and unbeatable. But on other days like yesterday, they can be plain ordinary and come up with a display worse than school kids. That's Pakistan cricket for you in a nutshell. Zoysa's three wickets for 29 runs in 10 overs gave him his second successive match award in the tournament. Sri Lanka made one change from their team which beat India by 12 runs on Sunday. Opener Saman Jayantha made way for the return of Jayasuriya. PAKISTAN: I. Nazir c Jayawardene b Zoysa 14 Y. Hameed run out 22 S. Malik c Dilshan b Zoysa 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq b Muralitharan 9 Y. Youhana run out 0 Y. Khan c Jayawardene b Maharoof 1 A. Razzaq c Dilshan b Maharoof 43 M. Khan c Sangakkara b Zoysa 3 M. Sami b Jayasuriya 9 S. Akhtar run out 1 S. Ahmed not out 0 EXTRAS (lb7, nb1, w8) 16 TOTAL 122 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19, 2-25, 3-45, 4-46, 5-52, 6-72, 7-88, 8-120, 9-122. BOWLING: Vaas 7-3-14-0, Zoysa 10-3-29-3, Maharoof 6-0-25-2, Muralitharan 8-1-14-1, Chandana 7-0-28-0, Jayasuriya 1.5-0-5-1. Overs: 39.5 SRI LANKA: A. Gunawardene c Nazir b Razzaq 26 S. Jayasuriya c Younis b Sami 20 M. Atapattu c Malik b Razzaq 19 K. Sangakkara not out 14 M. Jayawardene not out 19 EXTRAS (lb4, nb4, w17) 25 TOTAL (for three wickets) 123 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-51, 2-84, 3-88. Bowling: Akhtar 8-1-29-0, Sami 9-0-34-1, Ahmed 8-1-25-0, Razzaq 6-2-21-2, Malik 1-0-10-0. Overs: 32 Man of the match: Nuwan Zoysa (SRI) |
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