Date-stamped : 04 Dec94 - 10:27 4 Nation Mandela Cup Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Match #1 played at Kingsmead, Durban, 2 November 1994 Pakistan struck first in the four-nation one-day tournament for the Mandela Trophy when, inspired by a masterly 100 from opener Aamir Sohail, they beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the opening fixture on Friday. Needing 239 to win, Sohail gave Pakistan the perfect start as he raced to his 50 off just 55 balls. After the early dismissal of Saeed Anwar for five, Sohail shared in partnerships of 88 with Inzamam-ul-Haq (32) and 67 with Salim Malik (65 not out). He reached his third century in his 63rd one-day international from 118 balls before bottom-edging a pull off Ruwan Kalpage to Aravinda de Silva at wide mid-on. Salim, who had to have six stitches in his left shin after a col- lision with Ijaz Ahmed while Pakistan were fielding, played with considerable ease as he saw his side home with 13 balls left. Earlier the Sri Lankan innings of 238 for five had been dom- inated by their captain Arjuna Ranatunga who was made man of the match for his first century in 152 one-day internationals. Ranatunga's 101 came off 108 balls and included eight boundaries. After a good start which saw Jayasuriya (26) and Roshan Mahanama (29) put on 44 in nine overs for the first wicket, the Sri Lan- kans lost wickets regularly in the middle of the innings before Ranatunga and Kalpage steadied it. In the sixth over Pakistan captain Salim Malik collided with his brother-in-law Ijaz Ahmed as both went for a skied catch from opener Sanath Jayasuriya and was forced off the field to have six stitches in his left shin. But he later returned and picked up the wicket of Ruwan Kalpage, stumped for 29, after a partner- ship of 86 for the sixth wicket. Ranatunga, playing in his 152nd one-day international, had previ- ously passed 50 on 29 occasions without going through to his hun- dred. It was no surprise to see him punch the air with joy when he collected the single which took him through to three figures in the last over. Source :: Reuter Contributed by vicky (vigneswa@risky.ecs.umass.edu)