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Seamers chip away at Pakistan

Posted by Admin 8/3/09

25 overs Pakistan 119 for 4 (Umar 11*, Alam 3*) v Sri Lanka


Thilan Thushara sent back Nasir Jamshed with his third ball, Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 3rd ODI, Dambulla, August 3, 2009


Despite the early loss of Nasir Jamshed, Pakistan cruised to 80 for 1, before the sort of collapse that has been the bane of their tour set them back in Dambulla. Sri Lanka had won the toss and decided to bowl first on another bowler-friendly pitch, but it was Kamran Akmal and Younis Khan who held sway until the introduction of Angelo Mathews and Dilhara Fernando changed the complexion of proceedings.

Jamshed had departed in tame fashion, hanging his bat out at one in Thilan Thushara's opening over, but Kamran, who greeted Nuwan Kulasekara with a waltz and heave over midwicket, consolidated quickly with Younis for company. There was a stroke of luck, when a drive just went over Mathews' fingertips at cover, but by and large, the plan to hit Sri Lanka's new-ball bowlers off their length worked.

Younis played one of the shots of the morning, a lovely back-foot cover-drive off Thushara, and when Kamran then sandwiched a fluent drive between two emphatic pulls in a Kulasekara over, Pakistan were motoring. Both men played the off-drive superbly, and Kamran was quickly into the pull each time it was dropped short as 56 came from the first Powerplay.

It was then that Fernando came on, all bustling pace, split-finger slower balls and the odd bouncer. But when the breakthrough came, it was poor batsmanship rather than great bowling that was behind in. Mathews' first ball was short and wide, and Kamran fairly leathered it for four. The second, a touch fuller, was also flailed, but this time only the edge connected. Sangakkara took it and celebrated, and Kamran was on his way after 45 in 46 balls.

Shoaib Malik played one crunching cut off Mathews, but was undone by a Fernando special, the short delivery that reared up at the splice. And when Younis then misjudged a run to mid-on - Thushara threw down the stumps with a direct hit - the scoreboard had gone from 80 for 1 to 107 for 4. It was left to Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam, with next to no experience behind them, to steer clear of stormy waters.

Pakistan: 1 Kamran Akmal (wk), 2 Nasir Jamshed, 3 Younis Khan (capt), 4 Fawad Alam, 5 Shahid Afridi, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Umar Akmal, 8 Abdul Razzaq, 9 Naved-ul-Hasan 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Mohammad Aamer.

Sri Lanka: 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Thilina Kandamby, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Thilan Thushara, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

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