First Test ends in a draw

Sri Lanka went through some anxious moments and survived the final session to force a draw to the opening cricket Test match against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi yesterday.

The Lankans went through a testing period immediately after Pakistan had declared their first innings with a mammoth 765 for 6 which was easily their highest ever total against any opposition.

Sri Lanka trailing by 121 runs on the first innings then finished the day on 144 for 5 with Thilan Samaraweera holding on determinedly to ensure a draw. The middle order batsman frustrated the home side for nearly one hour with wicket keeper batsman Prasanna Jayawardena providing good support.

Earlier Sri Lanka lost both openers cheaply before skipper Mahela Jayawardena joined his deputy Kumar Sangakkara to carry them through safely with a fourth wicket partnership of 58 runs from 12.3 overs.

In between Tillekeratne Dilshan who was promoted in the batting order failed to make use of the situation and departed in the seventh over of the innings.

Even then Sri Lanka were again in a spot of bother when left hander Kumar Sangakkara made his exit after having completed the second half century of the match from 66 deliveries with the help of ten boundaries.

The match was of course heading towards a draw when the fifth and final day began and the focus was very much on Younis Khan who was well set to surpass Brian Lara’s World record for the highest individual score in Test matches.

The Pakistan captain however could not achieve his goal while adding only seven runs to his overnight score of 306 before being bowled by Dilhara Fernando in the ninth over of the day. Younis Khan started the day 31 runs short of Hanif Mohammad’s score of 337, the highest individual score by a Pakistan batsman.

The number three batsman started off slowly, nudging around, but was surprised by the movement from Dilhara Fernando. As Younis walked back, he was congratulated by all the Sri Lankan fielders as Pakistan sighed in disappointment. He occupied the crease for 836 minutes which is the third longest Test innings in terms of minutes behind Hanif Mohamed’s (970 minutes) and Gary Kirsten (878 minutes).

However Kamran Akmal carried on with the good work and went on to reach his sixth Test hundred shortly after the lunch interval from 153 deliveries inclusive of one six and seven boundaries. The Pakistan wicket keeper batsman then provided some entertainment while putting on a century stand for the seventh wicket from 29.4 overs together with Yasir Arafat.

In fact Arafat also joined in the fun as he raced to his maiden Test half century from 129 deliveries inclusive of two sixes and two boundaries. Their unfinished seventh wicket stand was worth a splendid 169 runs from 39 overs.

KARACHI, Wednesday

SRI LANKA 1st innings: 644-7 declared
PAKISTAN 1st innings
(Overnight: 574 for five)
		
Khurram Manzoor	c P. Jayawardene b Mendis 	 27
Salman Butt c M. Jayawardene b Muralitharan 	 23
Younis Khan b Fernando 				313
Shoaib Malik	run out 			 56
Misbah-ul-Haq 	lbw b Fernando 			 42
Faisal Iqbal 	lbw b M. Jayawardene 		 57
Kamran Akmal 	not out 			158
Yasir Arafat 	not out 			 50
EXTRAS: (5b, 11lb, 5w, 18nb) 			 39
TOTAL: (for 6 wickets declared) 		765
Overs: 248.5. Batting time: 993 minutes.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-44, 2-78, 3-227, 4-357, 5-531, 6-596.
DID NOT BAT: Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Sohail Khan.
BOWLING: Chaminda Vaas 36-10-66-0 (8nb), Dilhara Fernando
	39-2-124-2 (7nb, 1w), Ajantha Mendis 59-14-157-1 (3nb, 4w), Muttiah 
	Muralitharan 65-14-172-1, Tillakaratne Dilshan 19-3-82-0, Tharanga 
	Paranavitana 5-0-33-0, Kumar Sangakkara 10-0-34-0, Mahela Jayawardene 
	6.5-0-41-1, Malinda Warnapura 9-0-40-0.
		
SRI LANKA 2nd innings
Malinda Warnapura	c Akmal b Gul 		 02
Tharanga Paranavitana	run out 		 09
Kumar Sangakkara	lbw b Kaneria 		 65
Tillakaratne Dilshan	c Iqbal b Gul 		 08
Mahela Jayawardene	c Iqbal b Kaneria 	 22
Thilan Samaraweera	not out 		 24
Prasanna Jayawarden	not out 		 07
EXTRAS: (7nb) 					 07
TOTAL: (for 5 wickets) 				144
Overs: 31. Batting time: 154 minutes.
FALL OF WICKET: 1-2, 2-32, 3-45, 4-103, 5-120.
Did not bat: Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah 
	Muralitharan.
Bowling: Umar Gul 9-1-41-2 (4nb), Sohail Khan 6-0-33-0, Yasir Arafat 
	6-0-32-0 (1nb), Danish Kaneria 9-1-35-2, Shoaib Malik 1-0-3-0 (2nb).