Pakistan - SLC XI ends in a draw

Suraj 4/120 troubles Pakistan :

Chris DHAMBARAGE

The touring Pakistan team completed a successful warm up fixture as they drew their three day match against the Sri Lanka Cricket XI concluded at the Colts Cricket Club ground in Havelock Park yesterday.

Pakistan successfully overtook the home team’s total by piling up a huge 400 for 8 from their 90 overs and then went on to reach 54 for 4 in their second innings after they were given a victory target of 82 runs from a maximum of 24 overs.

Even then reaching the victory target was not really in the minds of the Pakistan team as they decided to have more batting practices during the final session which was marred by rain and bad light. The only disappointment of course was the repeated failure of their star batsman Mohammad Yousuf who failed to reach double figures in the second innings. Earlier Fawad Alam made a strong claim for a place in the Test team by smashing an unbeaten 83 that helped the visitors to build up a good first innings lead of 55 runs.

The 23 year old left hander took control of the situation by producing a composed innings with the aid of six boundaries. He continued from where he left on the previous day and went on to add a useful 78 runs for the unfinished ninth wicket from just 11 overs together with Abdur Rauf who played a good supporting role with an unbeaten 39 from 31 deliveries inclusive of three sixes and four boundaries. The two spinners Suraj Mohamed and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara did the bulk of the bowling and shared seven wickets between them. In fact the off spinner Suraj Mohamed sent down a marathon spell of 30 overs and was rewarded with a superb four wicket haul on a perfect batting track.

The Sri Lankan second innings of course was restricted to 40 overs on a prior agreement with the visitors in an attempt to get the maximum exposure ahead of the first Test match which begins at the Galle International Stadium on Saturday.

Even then Tharanga Paranavithana and Kaushal Silva both grabbed the opportunity to make an impact while making two useful contributions. Paranavithana certainly made amends for his first innings failure by stroking a sedate 48 from 102 deliveries with the help of eight boundaries. This was after opener Upul Tharanga had compiled a solid 44 with one six and five boundaries. Wicket keeper batman Kaushal Silva who was promoted in the batting order stuck to his task and remained unbeaten on 34 that included four boundaries. But unfortunately the innings had to be terminated due to bad weather with two overs before the completion of their stipulated 40 overs.

In fact Kaushal Silva is set to make his test debut after regular wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardena pulled out from the squad with a fractured finger.

SRI LANKA CRICKET XI
1ST INNINGS 345
PAKISTAN 1ST INNINGS
Khurram Manzoor c Suraj b Pushpakumara		83
Salman Butt c Paranavithana b Suraj		82
Younis Khan c Suraj b Pushpakumara		37
Mohammed Yousuf c Thirimanna b Pushpakumara	14
Misbah ul Haq c Kandamby b Suraj		15
Faisal Iqbal c Kapugedera b Suraj		32 
Fawad Alam not out				83
Kamran Akmal st. Silva b Suraj			 4
Abdul Razzaq c Suraj b Maharoof		 	 1
Abdur Rauff not out				39
Extras (7nb, 2w, 1lb)				10
TOTAL for 8 wickets in 90 overs			400

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-153, 2-207, 3-216, 4-238, 5-238, 6-317, 7-321, 8-322.

Bowling: D. Fernando 12-2-42-0, 
	 F. Maharoof 15-3-41-1, 
	 N. Pradeep 8-1-41-0, 
	 M. Pushpakumara 17-1-100-3, 
	 M. Siriwardena 7-0-52-0, 
	 M. Suraj 30-1-120-4, 
	 T. Paranavithana 1-0-3-0.

SRI LANKA CRICKET XI
2nd INNINGS

Upul Tharanga c Akmal b Ajmal				44
Tharanga Paranavithana c Mohammed Yousuf b Kaneria	48 
Kaushal Silva not out					34
Gihan Rupasinghe not out				 9
Extras 	(nb2)						 2
TOTAL
for 2 wickets in 37.4 overs				137

Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-122.

Bowling: Mohamed Aamer 8-1-31-0, 
	 Abdur Rauf 5-1-16-0, 
	 Abdul Razzaaq 5-2-10-0, 
	 Younis Khan 1-0-2-0, 
	 Saeed Ajmal 9-0-41-1, 
	 Danish Kaneria 9.4-3-37-1. 

PAKISTAN
2ND INNINGS
Khurram Manzoor c Pushpakumara b Maharoof		 7
Salman Butt retired				 	22
Mohammed Yousuf c Suraj b Kapugedera			 6
Misbah ul Haq not out					 6 
Kamran Akmal b Kapugedera				 6
Abdul Razzaq not out				 	 5
Extras (1nb, 1w)					 2
TOTAL for 4 wickets in 18 overs				54

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-32, 3-37, 4-47.

Bowling: D. Fernando 4-0-13-0, 
	 F. Maharoof 4-1-10-1, 
	 N. Pradeep 3-0-19-0, 
	 C. Kapugedera 5-1-6-2, 
	 M. Siriwardena 2-0-5-0.