Kulasekera, Herath pave way for series victory

Sensational Pakistani batting collapse - lose 8 for 26:

Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from the P. Sara Oval

Dream spells of after lunch bowling with the new ball by left arm spinner Rangana Herath and medium pacer Nuwan Kulasekera paved the way for a sensational Sri Lanka series clinching victory by seven wickets in the Second of Three Test matches against Pakistan at the P. Sara Oval on the third day of a five-day Test.

Thus Sri Lanka win a Test Series against Pakistan at home for the first time.

Set 171 for victory after an outrageous and spineless batting display where eight Pakistani wickets went down or 26 runs after lunch, openers Malinda Warnapura and Tharanga Paranavitharne put on 60 for the first wicket before Paranavitharne went for 17 and at 100 Warnapura went for a well made 54.

Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena batting with great composure and understanding put on 60 for the third wicket to put their team on course for victory. With 11 runs needed for victory Sangakkara was unfortunate to miss a well deserved half century be ing dismissed for 46.

Mahela Jayawardena remained 37 not out and Samaraweera six when the win came at 171 for three.

Play on the third day began in overcast conditions with Pakistan on 178 for one with debutant Fawd Alam unbeaten on 102 and skipper Younus Khan 35.They continued in the same form and were obtaining runs with ease.

Alam was playing some lovely cuts and drives, while Khan drove exquisitely on both sides of the wicket and the bowlers were not causing them any worry as their third wicket partnership began to look threatening.

The Lankan bowlers looked innocuous with no help whatsoever from the wicket. Khan reached his 21st Test 50 and Alam his 150 and just before lunch Khan went playing a silly shot. He tried to reverse sweep a delivery from part time off spinner Tharanga Paranavitharne and saw the ball lob off his shoulder and was caught by wicket keeper Dilshan. Pakistan took lunch on 294 for 2 with Alam on 164 and Mohammad Yousuf on 6.

But what happened to the Pakistan batting after lunch is something from Ripley's believe it or not. Pakistan lost 8 wickets for 26 runs in just 15.4 overs with the second new ball doing the trick. Another believe it or not was that of the eight wickets that went down after lunch 6 were LBW. The umpires were both Australians - Simon Taufell and Darrel Harper.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara in desperation with the Pakistan lead continuing to grow, tossed the new ball to spinners Herath and Paranawitharne. Those who dare win, it is said and Sangakkara's daring paid dividends.

Left arm spinner Herath who was the match winner in the Galle Test, showed his capabilities with the new ball as well. Instead of attempting to spin the new ball, he bowled top spinners and obtained skid from the wicket to bamboozle the opposing batsmen.

After one over from Paranavitharne, Sangakkara tossed the red cherry to first innings destroyer Nuwan Kulasekera who in addition to his pace, moved the ball both ways to stun and strangle the batsmen. Together Herath and Kulasekera proved a deadly combination and they were just unplayable.

They brought about a complete transformation in the game and sent the Pakistanis crashing from a position of strength and got Sri Lanka within sniffing distance of a victory and a series clincher that did not seem possible during the lunch break.

Kulasekera's and Herath's spells after lunch read - Kulasekera 6.4 overs - 3 maidens - 10 runs - 4 wickets. Herath's 8 overs - 3 maidens - 10 runs - 4 wickets. Together 8 wickets for 20 runs a truly remarkable effort and that would go down as two of the great bowling efforts in the game of Test cricket.

It was poor technique that proved the downfall of the Pakistani batsmen. They did not seem equipped to face situations and did not seem capable of playing straight deliveries. It was a shameful batting display and the less said the better.

The batting efforts of skipper Khan 82 and debutant Alam 168 paled into insignificance, due to the horrendous batting efforts of the remaining batsmen. Alam will always remember this scintillating innings of his which fell short by three runs of being the best by a Pakistani batsman on debut. The record stands in the name of Yasir Hameed who made 170 against Bangladesh in 2003.

SCORECARD

		PAKISTAN 1St INNINGS: 90
(Shoaib Malik 39 not out, N. Kulasekera 4-21, A. Mendis 3-20).

		
			
		SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS: 240
		(K. Sangakkara 87, Umar Gul 4-43, Saeed Ajmal 4-87)

		PAKISTAN 2ND INNINGS
	(overnight 178-1)

Khurram Manzoor c Dilshan b Herath 	 38
Fawad Alam c Warnapura b Herath 	168
Younus Khan c Dilshan b Paranavitana 	 82
Mohammad Yousuf lbw b Herath 		 06
Misbah-ul Haq lbw b Kulasekera 		 03
Shoaib Malik b Herath 			 06
Kamran Akmal lbw b Kulasekera 		 03
Abdur Rauf lbw b Kulasekera 		 00
Umar Gul lbw b Herath 			 02
Mohammad Aamer not out 			 01
Saeed Ajmal lbw b Kulasekera 		 00
Extras: (b8, lb1, nb1, w1) 		 11
TOTAL (all out, 96.4 overs) 		320



Fall of wickets: 1-85 (Manzoor), 2-285 (Younus), 3-294 (Yousuf),4-303 (Misbah),
		5-303 (Alam), 6-306 (Akmal), 7-312 (Malik), 8-316 (Rauf), 9-319
		(Gul),10-320 (Ajmal).


Bowling: Kulasekera 19.4-6-37-4 (w1), Thushara 13-0-48-0, Mathews 6-0-20-0,
	 Mendis 17-0-81-0 (nb1), Herath 35-5-99-5, Paranavitana 6-0-26-1.

		SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS
M. Warnapura c Akmal b Rauf 		 54
T. Paranavitana b Ajmal 		 17
K. Sangakkara c Misbah b Malik 		 46
M. Jayawardene not out 			 37
T. Samaraweera not out 			 06
Extras: (lb7, nb4) 			 11
TOTAL (for 3 wkts, 31.5 overs) 		171

Fall of wickets: 1-60 (Paranavitana), 2-100 (Warnapura), 3-160 (Sangakkara).
Bowling: Gul 6-0-38-0 (nb4), Aamer 6-0-33-0, Ajmal 12-1-56-1,
	 Rauf 4-1-13-1, Younus 2-0-11-0, Malik 1.5-0-13-1.