Pakistan v Sri Lanka - Series Summary

PAKISTAN WON THE SERIES 3-0
Pakistan started as hot favourites in spite of the fact that they had not won a series since season IV, and a 3-0 scoreline come the conclusion of proceedings came as no surprise. Sri Lanka's batting proved itself capable, at least until the final Test, but its bowling attack was hopelessly outclassed, and the record total that Pakistan was allowed to amass in the first Test set the tone for the series.

Javed's triple century in Karachi was the undoubted batting highlight of the series, but Majid Khan was arguably Pakistan's most consistent batsman, notching two centuries and a fifty in his five visits to the crease. Mushtaq Mohammad was the only home batsman to disappoint, but he made up for this with his best ever series with the ball, culminating in his hat-trick in Lahore where he also returned the best bowling figures on either side over the course of the three Tests. Imran enjoyed a very consistent series with bat and ball, and victories in all three Tests have now placed his team right on England's shoulder in the rankings.

As for Sri Lanka, the lack of firepower in their bowling attack will surely see them continue to struggle at this level until the likes of Muralitharan and Vaas become eligible for selection in some future time. That said, the five wicket hauls returned by Ravi Ratnayeke and Rumesh Ratnayake in Lahore do offer some hope, although the wholly ineffectual performance of leg spinner Somachandra de Silva was a great disappointment. The other de Silva, Aravinda, made a most positive impact with the bat after missing the first Test through injury, and the fact that the Sri Lankans were able to pass the 300 mark in each of their first four innings shows that batting is certainly the islanders strongest suit. Gurusinha and Ranatunga will be unhappy with their contributions to the cause though, and both will be keen to make amends when their side next takes the field in a one-off Test against India.

Series averages
(click to enlarge)

Players of the Series: Javed Miandad & RS Mahanama

Pakistan v Sri Lanka - Third Test

Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Pakistan: Majid Khan, Mohsin Khan, Ijaz Ahmed, Javed Miandad, Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, *Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Sarfraz Nawaz, +Wasim Bari, Iqbal Qasim.
Sri Lanka: RS Mahanama, UC Hathurusingha, AP Gurusinha, RL Dias, PA de Silva, *A Ranatunga, +RS Kaluwitharana, JR Ratnayeke, HDPK Dharmasena, RJ Ratnayake, GP Wickramasinghe.

Debuts: UC Hathurusingha (SL)
Umpires: BL Aldridge (NZL) & VK Ramaswamy (IND)
Toss: Pakistan

The Gaddafi Stadium was sparsely populated throughout the duration of the third and final Test, but there was plenty of entertainment on offer for the few fans that bothered to show up. Pakistan, who were fielding Sarfraz Nawaz and Iqbal Qasim in place of the under-performing Fazal Mahmood and Abdul Qadir, rattled up an impressive 342 runs on day one, but equally impressive was the fact that the Sri Lankans had managed to claim eight wickets during that time, with Ravi Ratnayeke going on to claim the first five wicket haul in the visitors' history as the innings closed for the addition of just six further runs on the second morning.

The Sri Lankan bowlers stuck to their task admirably, and a succession of home batsmen got themselves out to shots of which they would not be proud. Ijaz was one such culprit, caught on the boundary off the recalled Dharmasena seven runs short of what would have been a maiden ATG century, and it was not until the arrival of Asif Iqbal at the crease that we were treated to some composed, measured batsmanship. Asif eventually fell to the second new ball, bowled by an excellent off-cutter from Ratnayake for 71, but Sarfraz continued to enjoy himself and was eventually last out for 48 on would prove to be a most eventful second day.

Mahanama and debutant Hathurusingha gave Sri Lanka's reply a solid foundation, but after lunch came with the score on 91-1, the innings imploded in the afternoon session as Mushtaq Mohammad ran through the card in spectacular fashion. Mahanama was bowled shortly after the resumption for 64, Iqbal Qasim getting his revenge after being struck for two huge, straight sixes before the interval, then Mushtaq took over with a spell of 6-12 in the space of 26 deliveries, the Sri Lankans having no answer to his flighted leg spin. In the midst of his amazing spell, Mushtaq also claimed the first ever hat-trick in ATG history by dismissing Gurusinha, Ratnayeke and Dharmasena with the third, fourth and fifth balls of his sixth over, Dharmasena providing Sarfraz with a steepling catch in the covers that left hearts in mouths for what seemed like an eternity before the celebrations could begin.

Sri Lanka were eventually dismissed for 194 to give Pakistan a 154 run first innings lead, and after Majid and Mohsin were both nipped out before stumps to complete a second day's play on which 14 wickets had fallen, the third day was all about Javed Miandad as his second century of the series dispelled any fanciful thoughts of winning the game that the tourists may have still harboured. Wickets fell regularly throughout the day as Sri Lanka's seamers again bowled with admirable perseverance, but Javed was the glue that held the innings together, and when he was ninth out for 112, after a 61 run stand with Sarfraz that just about hammered the final nail into Sri Lanka's coffin, Pakistan's lead exceeded 400 and the tourists' chance had gone.

Rumesh Ratnayake trumped his near namesake's efforts in the first innings by recording figures of 6-92, but unfortunately for Sri Lanka their batsmen failed to show anything like the same levels of application in their second innings, and with the scoreboard reading 86-4 at the end of day three, the writing was very much on the wall. Aravinda de Silva had fallen for a silky 46 in the day's last over, gated by a turning ball from Qasim, and without his presence the remainder of the order crumbled on day four, two stoppages for rain the only impediment to a decisive Pakistani victory. It was pace rather than spin that did for the Lankans this time, and Imran and Akram shared nine wickets between them as the innings subsided to a paltry total of 126. Sri Lanka's batting had let them down badly after it had been their strongest suit in the first two Tests, and Pakistan's series sweep, sadly celebrated in front of just a handful of spectators, was both predictable and deserved.

1st & 2nd innings scorecards
(click to enlarge)

Scores
PAK 1st Inns 348 (Ijaz Ahmed 93, Asif Iqbal 71, Sarfraz Nawaz 48; Ratnayeke 5-62)
SL 1st Inns 194 (Mahanama 64; Mushtaq Mohammad 6-29)
PAK 2nd Inns 255 (Javed Miandad 112; Ratnayake 6-92)
SL 2nd Inns 126 (PA de Silva 46; Imran Khan 5-37, Wasim Akram 4-42)

PAKISTAN WON BY 283 RUNS


Man of the Match: Mushtaq Mohammad

Pakistan v Sri Lanka - Second Test

Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad

Pakistan: Majid Khan, Mohsin Khan, Ijaz Ahmed, Javed Miandad, Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, *Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, +Wasim Bari, Fazal Mahmood, Abdul Qadir.
Sri Lanka: S Wettimuny, RS Mahanama, AP Gurusinha, RL Dias, PA de Silva, *A Ranatunga, +RS Kaluwitharana, DS de Silva, JR Ratnayeke, RJ Ratnayake, GP Wickramasinghe.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: CJ Egar (AUS) & S Kishen (IND)
Toss: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's batsmen performed creditably in the first Test defeat, and given first use of a rock-hard track in Faisalabad they again batted well, providing the Lankans with perhaps their best day in the ATG arena thus far as they racked up 352 runs on a helter-skelter first day at the Iqbal Stadium. Hashan Tillakaratne was ruled out of this game with a groin strain, but Aravinda de Silva was fit again, and on his recall to the side he and Roy Dias compiled a wonderful stand of 168 in an afternoon session that saw the runs come at a rate approaching a run a ball.

The pair combined in a display of truly audacious strokeplay, but both missed out on their centuries as Imran produced a devastating spell either side of tea. The innings stumbled from 240-3 to 261-8, and Imran's five wicket burst saw him become just the third player, after Malcolm Marshall and Bill O'Reilly, to reach 200 ATG wickets. Somachandra de Silva, with his first ATG fifty, and Rumesh Ratnayake rallied the innings thereafter though and their excellent stand of 78 for the ninth wicket helped push Sri Lanka's total to 352, the innings having spanned just 82 overs. However, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, and over the course of the second day Pakistan's batsmen metered out similar punishment as the tourists' attack again struggled to either contain or penetrate.

From an overnight score of 7-0, Pakistan piled on a further 391 runs for the loss of just five wickets on day two, with Majid topping his century in the first Test by stroking his way to a career high 161 before being trapped by a good slower ball from Wickramasinghe, Sri Lanka's best bowler on the day. Majid had earlier been part of a second successive century opening partnership with Mohsin, and he added a further 116 with Ijaz, whose first ATG fifty showed promise until he was caught in the deep off Ratnayeke. With opposite number Ranatunga dropping the field back, Imran managed to give the tail end of the innings some impetus with a cultured 83, and a last wicket stand of 66 with Qadir pushed Pakistan to a total of 538 and a lead of 186 when Imran was finally dismissed on the third afternoon.

It was Aravinda de Silva who bowled the Pakistani captain, and after a rocky start to Sri Lanka's second innings it was Aravinda the batsman to the rescue as he raised his maiden ATG hundred after coming so close on the first day. Two more wickets from Imran, including that of Dias for 3 courtesy of a stunning catch in the slips from Majid, had reduced Sri Lanka to 38-3, but de Silva then got to work as Sri Lanka moved towards making their opponents bat twice for the first time in their brief ATG history. That de Silva was dropped three times during his 143 should not take anything away from the quality of his innings, and the fact that the next highest score was Kaluwitharana's 38 highlights the dominance of the diminutive maestro's performance.

Sri Lanka's final total of 327 set Pakistan a relatively comfortable target of 142 for victory, and although a three wicket burst from Wickramasinghe on the final morning finally gave the visitors something to cheer in the field, it was a case of too little too late as Pakistan got home by five wickets to take both the match and the series. Sri Lanka's batsmen had again performed admirably but, just as in the first Test, their bowlers looked far from threatening, and a 3-0 whitewash seems on the cards as the teams head to Lahore for the third and final Test.

1st & 2nd innings scorecards
(click to enlarge)

Scores
SL 1st Inns 352 (PA de Silva 96, Dias 89, DS de Silva 57, Wettimuny 42; Imran Khan 5-73)
PAK 1st Inns 538 (Majid Khan 161, Imran Khan 83, Ijaz Ahmed 69, Javed Miandad 49, Mohsin Khan 46)
SL 2nd Inns 327 (PA de Silva 143; Wasim Akram 4-98)
PAK 2nd Inns 142-5 (Majid Khan 65, Mohsin Khan 47)

PAKISTAN WON BY 5 WICKETS


Man of the Match: PA de Silva

Pakistan v Sri Lanka - First Test

National Stadium, Karachi

Pakistan: Majid Khan, Mohsin Khan, Ijaz Ahmed, Javed Miandad, Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, *Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, +Wasim Bari, Fazal Mahmood, Abdul Qadir.
Sri Lanka: S Wettimuny, RS Mahanama, AP Gurusinha, RL Dias, *A Ranatunga, HP Tillakaratne, +RS Kaluwitharana, DS de Silva, JR Ratnayeke, ALF de Mel, GP Wickramasinghe.

Debuts: Ijaz Ahmed (PAK); RL Dias, ALF de Mel & GP Wickramasinghe (SL)
Umpires: CJ Egar (AUS) & S Kishen (IND)
Toss: Pakistan

Sri Lanka entered into their first Test overseas with something of an injury crisis in their already thin bowling stocks, and on the flattest of tracks in Karachi, the attack that the Lankans did manage to put out onto the field was flayed to all quarters by a rampant Pakistani batting line-up. Majid Khan, with 101, was the dominant partner as the first wicket put on a completely untroubled 181, and Mohsin Khan then played second fiddle to a rampaging Javed in a third wicket partnership that took the hosts to an imposing 375-2 at the end of day one.

Mohsin passed 1000 career runs as he posted a career high 188, and his partnership with Javed had reached a national record 207 before the perspiring de Mel finally induced an edge behind midway through the second morning. Pakistan had already racked up 446 runs by this stage, and there was to be no let up for the tourists as Javed went into overdrive. Already past his hundred, Javed was determined to put on an unforgettable show for his home crowd, and his fourth ATG double century was raised off just 213 balls as he and Asif added a further 112 runs at almost a run a ball for the fifth wicket.

The score ticked past the 600 mark soon after Javed's milestone, and with the scoreboard reading a mammoth 662-5 at tea, the highest total in Pakistan's history, the toiling Sri Lankans would have been hoping and praying for Imran to call time on proceedings. It was not to be though, and after the break Javed and Imran took their partnership towards the 200 mark as Javed first passed his own national record of 284, and then became the first Pakistani to break the 300 barrier before Imran finally declared on 766-5, the third highest total in ATG history. Whilst Javed was celebrating, Sri Lanka's bowlers were left to lick their substantial wounds, with de Mel and Somachandra de Silva the first bowlers ever to concede in excess of 200 runs in a single innings, and it came as no surprise when Wasim Akram whipped out both Wettimuny and Gurusinha before stumps on day two to leave the visitors a precarious 4-2 overnight.

That the Sri Lankans did not fold completely on day three was down to two men; Mahanama blazed a defiant 92 at the top of the order then Hashan Tillakaratne rallied the tail to record his second century in succession as the total crept past 300, finally matching Javed's 304 when de Mel was last man out for a commendable, two and a half hour, 31. It was now lunch on day four, and in humid conditions and with a lead of 462, Imran enforced the follow-on, giving the Sri Lankans five sessions to hold out for an improbable draw. Wettimuny and Gurusinha both went cheaply again, but Mahanama and Dias then linked up in a partnership that saw them bat on into the final day and present the tourists with the possibility of staging one of the greatest of escapes.

Mahanama reached his century in audacious fashion, striking consecutive boundaries off Akram in the final over of day four to reach three figures and Dias, who was making his debut in place of the injured Aravinda de Silva, compiled a stoic fifty as the pair put together their nation's highest partnership to date. Their stand had reached 173 before Dias ballooned a catch off the leading edge against Mushtaq on the final morning, and unfortunately for Sri Lanka his wicket marked the start of a steady decline as Pakistan's spinners took control in the afternoon. Mahanama was finally out for 163 to go with his 92 in the first innings, and the last six wickets fell for just 52 runs as the tail melted away against the turning ball. Sri Lanka were eventually all out for 321 shortly before tea, and Pakistan claimed victory by the tidy margin of an innings and 141 runs. The visitors' batsmen had certainly not disgraced themselves but, as predicted, their bowling attack seems incapable of taking ten wickets in a match, let alone twenty, and one cannot foresee anything other than more leather chasing for the tourists as the series continues.

1st & 2nd innings scorecards
(click to enlarge)

Scores
PAK 1st Inns 766-5 dec. (Javed Miandad 304*, Mohsin Khan 188, Majid Khan 101, Imran Khan 80*, Asif Iqbal 47)
SL 1st Inns 304 (Tillakaratne 108, Mahanama 92)
SL 2nd Inns 321 (Mahanama 163, Dias 65; Mushtaq Mohammad 4-33)

PAKISTAN WON BY AN INNINGS & 141 RUNS


Man of the Match: Javed Miandad

Pakistan v Sri Lanka - Tour Match

President's XI v Sri Lankans
Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad
3 Day Game
Umpires: Amanullah Khan & Mahboob Shah
Toss: Sri Lankans

President's XI: Aamer Sohail, Rameez Raja, Waqar Hasan, Javed Burki, Ijaz Ahmed, Wasim Raja, +*Rashid Latif, Nasim-ul-Ghani, Mahmood Hussain, Asif Masood, Aaqib Javed.
Sri Lankans: S Wettimuny, RS Mahanama, AP Gurusinha, RL Dias, *A Ranatunga, HP Tillakaratne, +RS Kaluwitharana, DS de Silva, JR Ratnayeke, HDPK Dharmasena, GP Wickramasinghe.

A batsman-friendly pitch at the Niaz Stadium meant that the draw was always going to be the likely result in Hyderabad, and Asanka Gurusinha took full advantage on the first day with a fine century for the tourists. Gurusinha (109) put on 138 for the third wicket with the more circumspect Dias (65) and then, after the Sri Lankans had stumbled from 200-2 to 257-7, Somachandra de Silva and Ravi Ratnayeke revived the innings with an attacking partnership of 78, allowing Ranatunga to declare overnight with the scoreboard reading 354-8.

Coming as it did from the number eight position, de Silva's fluent 75 proved that Sri Lanka's batting certainly has some depth to it, but over the course of the second day the tourists' bowling attack was put to the sword as Rameez Raja and Ijaz Ahmed both powered their way to confident hundreds. The pair piled on 229 runs for the fourth wicket in little over three hours, but once the stand was broken the misery was far from over for the Sri Lankans as Rashid Latif smashed four sixes on his way to a quickfire fifty, and a 105 run partnership with Wasim Raja helped propel the hosts into an 85 run lead before Latif declared on the final morning. Ratnayeke was the only member of the visitors' attack to emerge with any credit, and it was now down to the batsmen to play out time and avoid the possibility of a demoralising defeat ahead of the first Test.

Wettimuny (54) and Mahanama (37) put on a trouble-free 65 for the first wicket, and although wickets fell at regular intervals thereafter, a shoddy display in the field from the Pakistanis ensured that the tourists were able to keep the scoreboard ticking over, and the game petered out into its inevitable conclusion over the course of the remainder of the day. Sri Lanka will head into the opening Test with a reasonably confident batting unit in situ, but on the evidence of the last three days, coupled with their showing in their one previous Test against England, one wonders how their bowlers will manage to take twenty wickets in a Test, and for that reason Pakistan must remain strong favourites as the series begins in earnest.

1st & 2nd innings scorecards
(click to enlarge)

Scores
Sri Lankans 1st Inns 354-8 dec. (Gurusinha 109, de Silva 75, Dias 65)
President's XI 1st Inns 439-8 dec. (Rameez Raja 149, Ijaz Ahmed 110, Rashid Latif 73; Ratnayeke 4-90)
Sri Lankans 2nd Inns 235-8 (Wettimuny 54)

MATCH DRAWN

Pakistan v Sri Lanka - Series Preview

Sri Lanka's first full ATG series takes them to Pakistan, and Arjuna Ranatunga's team will be keen to put on a good display after defeat in their inaugural Test against England last season. Sri Lanka fought hard in that match though, and whilst Pakistan will be overwhelming favourites in this three match series, they would do well not to underestimate the capabilities of their guests.

Pakistan themselves enter this series on the back of an encouraging tour of England, and if they do indeed emerge victorious here it will end a run of five series without a win, their last series triumph coming against New Zealand back in season IV. It will also be their last chance for a while to break the cycle as Pakistan have no further fixtures scheduled this season, so we should be in for some competitive cricket once the series gets underway in Karachi.

Current form (most recent result first)
Pakistan DWLDL
Sri Lanka L

Sri Lanka squad
A Ranatunga (c), HP Tillakaratne (v/c), SD Anurasiri, ALF de Mel, DS de Silva, PA de Silva, RL Dias, HDPK Dharmasena, AP Gurusinha, UC Hathurusingha, RS Kaluwitharana, RS Mahanama, RJ Ratnayake, JR Ratnayeke, S Wettimuny, GP Wickramasinghe.