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 28th March 1999 |
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 Sri Lankan opening batsman Mahela Jayawardene takes a run during a one day match against Pakistan in Visakhapatnam, India, on Saturday. Jayawardene made a century and was run out on 101. Sri Lanka batted first and made 253 for 8 in 50 overs. Pakistan were all out for 241. Reuter |
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Sri Lanka stun Pakistan, keep hopes aliveVISAKHAPATNAM, India, Saturday (AFP) - World Cup champions Sri Lanka shrugged off their poor form to upset Wasim Akram's Pakistan by 12 runs in a stunning reversal here on Saturday. Young Mahela Jayawardena scored his second one-day century as Sri Lanka piled up 253-8, then restricted Pakistan for 241 despite a brilliant 79 off 60 balls by skipper Akram. Akram smashed five boundaries and four sixes to lead a remarkable fightback after the first six wickets had fallen for just 98 runs. Akram put on 48 for the seventh wicket with Azhar Mahmood and 83 for the eighth with Saqlain Mushtaq, before Sri Lanka hit back to score a badly-needed victory. The upset win, Sri Lanka's first in the three-nation tournament, also featuring hosts India, threw open the race for the final on April 4. Pakistan lead the double-leg round-robin league with two wins from three matches. India have one win from two games and Sri Lanka one from three. India take on Sri Lanka at Pune on Tuesday, before clashing with Pakistan at Mohali on Thursday in what could be the decisive match of the league. Pakistan, who would have qualified for the final had they won, badly missed their in-form opener Saeed Anwar, who was sidelined with an eye problem. Worse, Pakistan were given only 48 overs to bat after match referee Cammie Smith of the West Indies penalised them two overs for a slow over-rate. Lunch had to be reduced to just 10 minutes as Pakistan took 30 extra minutes to bowl their 50 overs in stifling heat in this south-eastern port city. The Sri Lankans, already without star players Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Murlitharan, were depleted further when pace spearhead Chaminda Vaas pulled out with fever. Still they showed remarkable tenacity to overcome their poor record of 14 defeats in their last 16 matches. After Jayawardena's 101 gave them a platform to pressurise the Pakistanis, seamer Pramodaya Wickremasinghe sliced through the top order in sensational fashion. Wickremasinghe removed the dangerous Shahid Afridi in the fourth ball and then had debutant Imran Nazir caught smartly at square-leg by Upul Chandana with the first ball of his second over. The lanky seamer, a protege of Australian great Dennis Lillee, became the tournament's most successful bowler with eight wickets when he dismissed Ijaz Ahmed to reduce Pakistan to 19-3. Off-spinner Ruwan Kalpage took care of Inzamam-ul Haq and Yousuf Youhanna to make it 64-5 and then Chandana had Moin Khan stumped as Pakistan slumped to 98-6. Akram holed out against Aravinda De Silva when 25 more were needed and Saqlain remained stranded on 28 not out as the last two wickets fell quickly. Earlier, Jayawardena was dropped twice by Saqlain Mushtaq and Shoaib Akhtar off their own bowling and then escaped being run out on 96 before notching up his century. The 21-year-old, who came to bat in the fourth over, shored up Sri Lanka's faltering innings before he was eighth out. The Sri Lankans were reduced to 86-4 in the 20th over as seamer Azhar Mehmood removed the two most experienced batsmen De Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga off successive balls. ScoreboardSri Lanka: A. Gunawardena c Akram b Akhtar 11 M. Atapattu c Nazir b Mahmood 28 M. Jayawardena run out 101 A. De Silva c Nazir b Mahmood 9 A. Ranatunga c Moin b Mahmood 0 H. Tillekeratne c Moin b Mahmood 25 U. Chandana c Akram b Saqlain 35 E. Upashantha run out 2 R. Kalpage not out 16 H. Botheju not out 1 Extras: (b2, lb8, w8, nb7) 25 Total (for eight wickets) 253 Did not bat: P. Wickremasinghe Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-70, 3-86, 4-86, 5-157, 6-218, 7-228, 8-238 Bowling: Akram 10-0-39-0, Akhtar 8-0-45-1, Mahmood 10-1-40-4, Saqlain 10-1-39-1, Arshad 9-0-62-0, Afridi 3-0-18-0 Pakistan: Shahid Afridi c Atapattu b Wickremasinghe 0 Imran Nazir c Chandana b Wickremasinghe 2 Ijaz Ahmed c sub (Arnold) b Wickremasinghe 12 Inzamam-ul Haq c and b Kalpage 16 Yousuf Youhanna c Atapattu b Kalpage 21 Azhar Mahmood c and b Upashantha 37 Moin Khan st Tillekeratne b Chandana 16 Wasim Akram c Chandana b De Silva 79 Saqlain Mushtaq not out 28 Arshad Khan run out 5 Shoaib Akhtar c Wickremasinghe b De Silva 2 Extras: (lb2, w9, nb12) 23 Total 241 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-2, 3-19, 4-58, 5-64, 6-98, 7-146, 8-229, 9-238 Bowling: Wickremasinghe 9-1-34-3, Upashantha 10-1-40-1, Botheju 9-0-57-0, Kalpage 9-0-61-2, Chandana 3-0-21-1, De Silva 6.3-0-26-2 Rajans chase in vainBy Shane SeneviratneThe 94th Battle of the Maroons between Kingswood and Dharmaraja ended in a lacklustre draw at the Asgiriya Stadium yesterday. Batting first Kingswood totaled 142 with L.Ekanayake scoring a half century while Asanga Marapona was the pick amongst the bowlers claiming six for 40, supported by Pubudu Seneviratne (3 for 20). In reply Dharmaraja declared their innings at 109 for nine with only two of their batsmen entering double figures. Batting a second time Kingswood scored 109 for 9 with Chamara Seneviratne top scoring with 45 before declaring and setting Dharmaraja a victory target of 143 to win. The Rajans in reply were 30 for 3 at stumps with C.Ekanayake capturing two of the three wickets which fell for five runs. Chamara Seneviratne was picked as Man of the Match and was awarded the Billimoria Trophy. The 11th one day match between the two schools will be played tomorrow (Monday March 29) at the Asgiriya Stadium. Kingswood and Dharmaraja have won four each in the popular one day series while the other two have ended in no-decisions. Dr. Abeygunapala, an Old Rajan, will be the chief guest at the game tomorrow. Ten-a-side rugby this TuesdayBy Saif IzzadeenThe Inter School rugby season for this year will kick off with the ten-a-side rugby tournament which is scheduled to take place on March 30 and 31 at the Royal and Thurstan grounds respectively. This tournament is organised by the Western Province Rugby Football Union for schools in the Western Province. This contest is held with the blessings of the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association. These details were revealed to The Sunday Times by the Sri Lanka schools rugby football Association Secretary Mr. Rodrigo yesterday. The first day's proceedings will begin at 1.00pm on both grounds and matches will be played simultaneously. The last day's play which is on March 31 will begin at 8.00am at the Thurstan grounds.As the matches are going to be entertaining a large crowd is expected on both days. Old Joes and Saunders clinch titlesOld Joes gave out a fine display of dribbling which enabled them to score a smashing five goals to two win over Young Victory and win the Silver Cup at the Sugathadasa stadium yesterday This tournament was organised by the Colombo Football league In the Gold cup of the same tournament which was played under lights Saunders SC came out all guns blazing to score five goals to nil win over Old Bens. Jayasuriya recovers, fit for World CupBy Marlon FernandopulleSri Lanka's dashing opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya has recovered fully from the recent injury he suffered in Australia and is all keyed up to return to big time cricket once again. The left hander who was struck on his right hand from a vicious Brendon Julian delivery during the Carlton and United series in Australia underwent an operation and had a metal plate inserted above his wrist. .Since then he has progressed well and on the advice of his Doctors began first striking a tennis ball before practising with the leather ball. Last week Sanath was seen hard at practice at his club Bloomfield and The Sunday Times learns that The allrounder is not experiencing any pain or difficulty while batting and is bashing the ball in his own inimitable style. He was eager to have some match practice and was keen to represent Bloomfield in the Premier League tournament,but was denied the opportunity when last week's and this week's games in the tournament were postponed by the tournament committee due to the ongoing triangular between the touring Leicestershire team and the Sri Lanka A and B team. Jayasuriya is now very unlikely to get any match practice at home before the Sri Lanka team leaves for the World Cup next month.However Jayasuriya will have the opportunity in England as Sri Lanka are scheduled to play a host of side games in England prior to the lung opener at Lords on May 14. Gurukula force drawBy S.M.D.SirisenaGurukula MV batted with great concentration to force a draw against Dharmaloka MV in the 12th 'Battle of Kelaniya' inter-school big match at the R.Premadasa Stadium yesterday. Dharmaloka MV batting on Friday amassed 327 for 5 with N.Pitiarachchi stroking a fine 149, which is a record for this school in the big match series. Gurukula MV who were 36 for 3 overnight, went on to score a shaky 129 and following on were 147 for 3 mainly due to a dour second wicket stand of 142 between Manjula Prasad (57 with four hits to the ropes) and Helon Dilruk was unbeaten with a fine 85 which contained eight hits to the ropes. Dharmaloka MV - 327 for 5 dec. (N.Pitiarachchi 149) Gurukula MV - (overnight 36 for 3) 129 in 67 overs (Helon Dilruk 17, Dushantha Samaraweera 41, G.Chaminda 14; R.Rajapakse 4 for 16, K.Laksitha 3 for 34, T.Dilukshan 2 for 14) and 147 for 3 at close in 58 overs (Manjula Prasad 57, Helon Dilruk 85 n.o)
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