Listless bowling exposes Lanka
The age old problem troubled the Lankans again as their bowling attack which lacks penetration was exposed as Pakistan went past the opponent’s total in a lesser number of overs than they bowled against them. After being in a tentative 95 for five on the third day, Pakistan gained a 117 runs first innings lead as play unfolded on the fourth day of the first cricket test being played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.
Pakistan’s ‘ton’ manufacturer Asad Shafiq celebrates his milestone
In reply to Sri Lanka’s 300 all out in the first innings, Pakistan scored 417. At the end of the day the hosts were badly placed at 63 for two. At the crease is opener Dimuth Karunaratne not out on 36 along with nightwatchman Dilruwan Perera yet to score.
Ever reliable Sangakkara is back in the pavilion with that tiny little anchor, Kaushal Silva for mere five runs. The hosts, who trail by 54 runs with only eight wickets in hand, have to negotiate matters on a fifth day wicket in Galle. It’s not an easy task against two young spinners, Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Baber, who can bowl right through the day.
Sri Lanka’s biggest problems were short spells by the two fast bowlers. Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep shared the ball for 43 overs but in unbelievable 15 spells. The longest spell was 5-0-25-0 by Dhammika Prasad and for Nuwan Pradeep it was a four over spell.
Prasad, who bowled his 24 overs in eight spells, wasted most of his balls with bouncers and the batsmen evaded them. It’s not understandable as to why Prasad was taken out from the attack after his first spell that cost him only ten runs — 4-1-10-2.Then Nuwan Pradeep bowled 19 overs in seven spells and his longest and the most productive one was 4-0-13-1, which says he had bowled only 24 balls in one spell. The next question is; are the Lankan pacemen fit enough to play the grueling five-day version of this sport?
Their focus was disturbed after every three or four overs and the Pakistanis made the best use of this situation to add 322 runs for the last five wickets.
Sri Lanka coach, Marvan Atapattu says the heat was the cause for shorter spells and the other being the wind factor. He added “Not too many fast bowlers in this ground want to bowl from pavilion end and most want to bowl from Rampart End. The wickets were taken by fast bowlers from Rampart End”
“The only wicket to fall for Prasad was that of Sarfraz when he was bowling form Pavilion End” Atapattu said at the post match press conference, here in Galle, on Saturday. ”Short spells, yes in this heat, wind and the wicket factor and we feel it’s better for spinners than fast bowlers” Atapattu elaborated.
First was that 139 run partnership for the sixth wicket between Sarfraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq, before Shafiq accompanying Zulfiqar Babar to add another 101 runs for the ninth wicket.
The wicket keeper batsman, Zarfraz Ahmed, who passed 1000 test runs yesterday, have scored 495 runs against Sri Lanka out of his 1045 runs scored so far. He raced to his half century in 45 balls with eight hits to the rope before sprinting towards the century mark. The right hander attempted to sweep Dhammika Prasad as the ball crashed into his stumps while the man was four runs short of a well deserved century. It was the 87th ball he faced and 13 of them had reached the boundary.
Meanwhile, Asad Shafiq quietly marched towards his seventh test hundred in a characteristic slow and steady manner. His 376 minutes stay in the crease pushed Pakistan 117 runs ahead of Sri Lanka and put the hosts under more pressure since the first innings century maker, Kaushal Silva, departed for 5 runs last evening.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka 1st innings 300 (K. Silva 125, K. Sangakkara 50, Wahab Riaz 3-74, Zulfiqar Babar 3-64)
Pakistan 1st innings (overnight 118-5)
M. Hafeez c Karunaratne b Prasad 2
Ahmed Shehzad lbw b Prasad 9
Azhar Ali lbw b Herath 8
Younis Khan b Perera 47
Misbah-ul Haq c Sangakkara b Pradeep20
Asad Shafiq st Chandimal b Perera 131
Sarfraz Ahmed b Prasad 96
Wahab Riaz b Perera 14
Yasir Shah c Chandimal b Pradeep 23
Zulfiqar Babar c Vithanage b Perera 56
Junaid Khan not out 6
Extras (lb1, nb3, w1) 5
Total (all out, 113.1 overs) 417
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Hafeez), 2-11 (Shehzad), 3-35 (Azhar), 4-86 (Younis), 5-96 (Misbah), 6-235 (Sarfraz), 7-273 (Wahab), 8-302 (Yasir), 9-403 (Babar),
10-417 (Shafiq).
Bowling: Prasad 24-4-91-3, Pradeep 19-1-71-2 (nb2), Herath 30-4-99-1, Perera 31.1-3-122-4, Mathews 6-1-12-0 (nb1), Vithanage 3-0-21-0 (w1)
Sri Lanka 2nd innings:
K. Silva c Azhar b Wahab 5
D. Karunaratne not out 36
K. Sangakkara c Azhar b Yasir 18
D. Perera not out 0
Extras (b4) 4
Total (for two wickets, 21 overs) 63
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Silva),
2-63 (Sangakkara).
Bowling: Wahab 6-3-11-1, Junaid 4-0-19-0, Yasir 7-1-21-1, Hafeez 4-1-8-0.
Sri Lanka trail by 54 runs with eight wickets in hand
Toss: Pakistan
Umpires: Richard Illingworth (ENG) and Paul Reiffel (AUS)
TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG