Good half ‘tons’ from the three Ts Tharanga, Thilan and Thisara:

Pakistan trailing by 84 runs

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE reporting

Sri Lanka who gained a first innings lead of 111 had Pakistan on 27 for one wicket still trailing by 84 runs with 9 wickets remaining at the end of the third day of the Final Test at the Palekelle Stadium, here today.

Batmen out was Taufeeq Umar LBW to Kulesekera and the not outs were Hafeez on 8 and Ali on 6. The best and most entertaining innings for the day was played by all rounder Thisara Perera. Strongly built and packing rhino power in his shots, Perera hit Umar Gul for 14 runs in one over – two fours and a six. He played the role of ‘one armed bandit’ hitting the bowler for six with his left hand over mid wicket.

Second new ball

After Prasanna Jayawardene went LBW to Gul first ball with the second new ball, Perera and Nuwan Kulesekera played attacking cricket to post a partnership of 50 runs in 58 balls. Kulesekera who is no mug with the willow, played two classical cover drives.

Kulesekera who gave Perera good support went after a stand of 84 in108 balls with Perera – caught behind by Taufeeq Uma for 33 with 3 fours, Rangana Herath went LBW to Ajmal for 2 and then Khan knocked back Perera off stump with a peach of a delivery for 75 with 4 fours, 3 sixes in 84 balls to end the Lankan innings. It was a good double for Perera – 4 wickets and a blistering 75.

Left armer Junaid Khan who has been the best of the Pakistani bowlers on tour had another 5 wicket haul like he did in the SSC Test. He has the makings of another Wasim Akram if properly handled.

Weather kind

Compared to Monday, where the weather was so unkind and kept raining all day, not allowing a ball to be bowled, the third day dawned bright, but still the dreaded clouds were hanging over. The Test started 15 minutes early and when umpire Simon Taufell standing with his Australian colleague Steve Davis called ‘play’, the sun was shining brightly which was encouraging as it allowed play. When pay began, Pakistan who is one down in the series was looking for early wickets to put Sri Lanka under pressure. The home team needed to keep their wickets intact, go past the visitors and build a lead and put them into the deep end.

Incident free

The pre lunch was incident free with overnight not out batsmen Tharanaga Paranavitarne and Thilan Samaraweera progressing with caution, but scoring when the opportunities came along. The wicket that was kept under wraps all day on Monday, behaved well and favoured the batsmen more than the bowlers. But the bowlers did not lack for want of trying.

The batsmen played and missed but there was no cause for alarm. Captain Misbah Ul Haq moved his bowers around, but would have been frustrated, because his bowlers were not delivering.

Neck on the block

Paranavitarne’s neck was on the block with critics querying his place in the team after failures in the Galle and SSC Test. But he silenced his critics, batting sensibly and totting up his 11th half century in Test cricket.

He went from 48 to 52 when he cut a short no ball from Younus Khan to the boundary. It came in 104 balls with 6 fours in 199 minutes.

The two batsmen deprived the Pakistanis of the wickets they were looking for and took Sri Lanka to lunch at 142 for 3 with Paranavitarne on 52 and Samaraweera on 45. Just after lunch Pakistan should have had the wicket of Samaraweera. But the butter fingers that the Pakistan fielders are renowned for, showed in Younus Khan at slip when he dropped a regulation catch offered by Samaraweera off Umar Gul. Samaraweera was on 49. Later on in the innings Misbah dropped Perera.

Square drive

Samaraweera then reached his 29th 50 in Test cricket when he square drove Umar Gul to the point boundary. His knock came in 110 balls, 150 minutes and consisted of 8 fours.

As the session after lunch progressed without hindrance, Sri Lanka lost the wickets of Thilan Samaraweera LBW to Saeed Ajmal for 73,Tharanga Paranavitarne for 75 bowled by Ajmal and Angelo Mathews caught in the gully by Asad Shafiq off Junaid Khan for 6 and at tea Sri Lanka was 220 for six with Prasanna Jayawardene on 11 and Thisara Perera on 4. Paranavitarne was lovely to watch with his square cutting and copy book drives on the off, while Samaraweera was strong on the leg side and driving on the off.

Even contest

It was an even contest between bat and ball as the wicket continued to play easy. Pakistan was relying heavily on off spinner Saeed Ajmal to get them the quick wickets, but he wasn’t obliging.

It was a bit confusing as to why skipper Misbah did no bowl off spinner Mohammed Hafeez before and after lunch. He was brought on for one over just before tea. Misbah could also have bowled his leg spinner Azhar Ali for variety.

It was a frustrating wait on Monday with no signs of play and while humming the words of that perennial from Tony Brent – the clouds will soon roll by – met with TV Commentators Chisty Mujahid, Roshan Abeysinghe and Michael de Zoysa swapped jokes and talked of the glorious past and the greats who made the gentlemen’s game memorable. Palekelle, Tuesday.

S C O R E C A R D 
Pakistan 1st innings 226


Sri Lanka 1st innings
   (overnight 44-3)
T. Paranavitana b Ajmal 	 75
D. Chandimal lbw b Junaid . 	 08
K. Sangakkara b Junaid . 	 00
M. Jayawardene lbw b Sami . 	 12
T. Samaraweera lbw b Ajmal 	 73
A. Mathews c Shafiq b Junaid . 	 09
P. Jayawardene lbw b Gul . 	 20
T. Perera not out . 		 75
N. Kulasekara c Taufeeq b Junaid 33
R. Herath lbw b Ajmal 		 02
D. Fernando not out 		 00
Extras: (b16, lb7, w6, nb1) . 	 30
Total (all out, 100.2 overs) 	337

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Chandimal), 2-14 (Sangakkara), 3-44 (M. 
		Jayawardene), 
		4-187 (Samaraweera), 5-200 (Mathews), 6-204 (Paranavitana), 
		7-236 (P. Jayawardene), 8-320 (Kulasekara), 9-337 (Herath), 10-337 
		(Perera).

Bowling: Gul 22-3-90-1 (w5), Junaid 28.2-3-70-5, Sami 17-1- 69-1 (w1), 
	Ajmal 25-5-66-3, Younis 3-0-9-0 (nb1), Hafeez 5-0- 10-0

Pakistan 2nd innings:

Mohammad Hafeez not out . 	 08
Taufeeq Umar lbw b Kulasekara .  04
Azhar Ali not out . 		 06
Extras: (lb4, w5) . 		 09
Total (for one wicket, six overs)27

Fall of wicket: 1-16 (Taufeeq).

Bowling: Kulasekara 3-1-9-1, Perera 3-0-14-0 (w5).