Honours even in drawn 'test' at Dambulla

What a match it finally turned out to be at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium where Sri Lanka 'A' and Pakistan 'A' shared the honours in the drawn second 4-day unofficial cricket test, which ended on Wednesday.

Set an imposing fourth innings target of 395 runs off a minimum of 98 overs, Pakistan 'A' finished on 342 for seven wickets when bad light put an end to the contest with only six of the 15 mandatory overs bowled. Either side had a chance of pulling it off in their favour had the match gone its full distance.

Sri Lanka 'A' required three wickets and Pakistan 'A' were short by 53 runs. But neither side deserved to lose this absorbing contest.

The two-test unofficial series thus ended in a nil-all draw with the first 'test' also ending in a draw at Asgiriya.

SRI LANKA 'A' - 1ST INNINGS 225 (P. Jayawardene 59, Mohammad Asif 5-46)

PAKISTAN 'A' - 1ST INNINGS 234 (Bazid Khan 84, Faisal Iqbal 66, S. Mohamed 6-73)

SRI LANKA 'A' - 2ND INNINGS 403 (J. Mubarak 80, P. Jayawardene 143, M. Bandara 79)

PAKISTAN ‘A’ - 2ND  INNINGS
Ashar Zaidi c Vandort b Mohamed			 30
Bazid Khan c Jayawardene b Fernando		124
Faisal Athar c Jayawardene b Mohamed		 15
Misbah-ul-Haq c Gajanayake b Bandara		 80
Hasan Raza not out				 47
Faisal Iqbal lbw b Mubarak			 21
Zulqarnain Haider c Polonowita b Bandara	 16
Mohammad Asif c Arnold b Mubarak		  0
Abdul Rauf not out				  1 
Extras (LB-1, NB-6, W-1)			  8
TOTAL (7 wkts at stumps, 89 overs, 400 mins)	342 
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-69, 2-89, 3-255, 
4-255, 5-311, 6-334,  7-335. 
BOWLING: Fernando 18-0-80-1 (5nb, 1w), 
Wijekoon  10-1-32-0, Mohamed 17-0-98-2, 
Bandara 25-3-82-2, Mubarak 19-3-49-2  (1nb).