Date-stamped : 13 Aug94 - 14:30 Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Test 1 P.Sara Stadium, Colombo, 9-14 Aug 1994 ====> Day 1, 9 Aug 94 Sri Lanka`s gamble in playing three spinners paid some dividends as they grabbed all six wickets to fall on the first day of the first cricket test against Pakistan on Tuesday. By the close, Pakistan choosing to bat first on a pitch devoid of grass and becoming increasingly difficult for batting, had made 297-6 with the last of their recognised batsmen, Inzamam-ul-Haq undefeated on 46 and the big-hitting all-rounder Wasim Akram on 22. But at one stage in the afternoon Pakistan were 180 for one, largely due to a second wicket partnership of 115 between opener Saeed Anwar (94) and Asif Mujtaba (44). The pair came together after Aamir Sohail had given Pakistan a rousing start, hitting 41 off 51 balls with eight fours out of an opening partnership of 65 with Anwar. Sohail took full advantage of Sri Lanka`s make- shift new ball attack in which Pramodya Wickremasinghe was the only fast bowler. Part time medium-pacer Asanka Gurusinha con- ceded 24 runs -- all in boundaries in his only spell of four overs. Spinner Kumar Dharmasena dismissed Sohail when he tried to cut a straight ball and was bowled with the score on 65. But the home side had to wait until 15 minutes before tea for the next breakthrough -- a double success, by getting the wick- ets of Anwar and skipper Salim Malik in the space of eight deliveries. Anwar, who had batted immaculately, was six runs short of his second test hun- dred when he tried to hit War- naweera to leg but only got an out- side edge which Sanath Jayasuriya at gully did well to pull down as it went almost past his head. Malik with five consecutive 50s behind him was un- lucky to be dismissed for one, when off a Dhar- masena delivery his attempt to flick to leg only ended with the ball lodging under short leg fielder Hashan Tillekeratne`s right armpit. Sri Lanka took three further wickets in the final ses- sion. Muj- taba, after showing dogged resistance for 210 minutes for his 44, fell to Dharmasena when he edged a delivery to the wicket- keeper. Warnaweera sent back Basit Ali for 27 by trapping him in front of the wicket and Muralidharan completed a good day for the Sri Lankan spinners by dismissing Rashid Latif without scoring, also caught behind by Dasanayake. In the final hour, Akram enlivened the proceedings by thumping one six and four fours in his unbeaten 22, and with Haq who has so far batted for 82 minutes with six fours added 37 for the seventh wicket. Thanks REUTER Contributed by vicky (vigneswa@sisko.ecs.umass.edu) ====> Day 2, 10 Aug 94 An unbeaten fifth wicket partnership of 92 between Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillekeratne edged Sri Lanka closer to avoiding the follow-on at the end of the second day`s play in the first cricket test against Pakistan on Wednesday. Replying to Pakistan`s 390, Sri Lanka`s top order collapsed against the leg- spin of Mushtaq Ahmed, who picked up three for 20 in his first spell of eight overs. Leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed took two wickets in successive overs on Wednesday as Sri Lanka struggled to 42 for three at tea on the second day of the first test against Pakistan on Wednesday. Fast bowler Wasim Akram made the initial break- through by having makeshift opener Sanath Jayasuriya caught off the outside edge by Aamir Sohail at third slip for nine. Then Mushtaq, who replaced an off-colour Waqar Younis who had conceded 28 runs in his first spell of six overs, grabbed two wickets from consecutive overs shortly before tea. In his second over, Mush- taq bowled Roshan Mahanama around his legs as the batsmen at- tempted a sweep. The opener, who underwent surgery on his left knee in Australia and missed the first one day game, had made 21. Off Mushtaq`s next over, the last one before tea, Asanka Gurusinha, who has looked uncomfortable in the middle against both pace and spin, was caught behind for 11. Sri Lanka lost their first four wickets for 60 runs and looked in danger of fal- ling short of the follow-on target of 191. However de Silva, with an unbeaten 74 and Tillekeratne on 25, shared pulled Sri Lanka round to 152 for four at the close. De Silva completed his 13th test half century off a Wasim Akram no-ball in 97 minutes with nine fours. Sri Lanka were fortunate that their chief des- troyer, Mushtaq, was pulled out of the attack in his second spell with cramps and dehydration. Pakistan, resuming from their over- night total of 297 for six, progressed to 390 all out shortly after lunch with off-spinner Kumara Dharmasena returning his best figures in test cricket by taking six for 99 runs. Dharmasena was rewarded for his persistency in keeping a consistent line and length which enabled Sri Lanka to dismiss Pakistan for under 400. A seventh-wicket stand of 85 between overnight pair Inzamam-ul- Haq and Akram pushed Pakistan close to 400 despite Sri Lanka tak- ing the second new ball immediately play resumed. The break- through came only after one hour`s play when Akram, using the long handle to good effect, was caught at long off by Sanath Jayasuriya off Dharmasena. He scored 37 off 73 balls with one six and six fours. Inzamam batted with ease and edged closer to his third test century but at 81, he failed to keep a glance down and Tillekeratne at short leg picked up a catch off Dharmasena. In- zamam hit 10 fours in his 166-minute innings. Thanks Reuter. Contributed by vicky (vigneswa@sisko.ecs.umass.edu) ====> Day 3, 11 Aug 94 A century first wicket stand between Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail saw Pakistan take a firm grip on the first test against Sri Lanka on Thursday. At tea on the third day, Pakistan were 132 for one in their second innings, an overall lead of 296 with more than two days` play remaining. Both openers hit half centuries with Sohail getting there first off 75 balls with seven fours before playing a casual drive off Kumara Dharmasena and being caught at extra cover by Sanath Jayasuriya for 65. The pair had put on 128 for the first wicket. Anwar took nine balls more than his left- handed partner to complete 50 but was still batting at tea on 54, having hit five fours. Earlier, Wasim Akram and Akram Raza captured three wickets each as Sri Lanka succumbed for 226 in their first innings. Sri Lanka, resuming at 152 for four, needed a big partnership from the overnight fifth wicket pair of Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillekeratne to get near Pakistan`s first innings total of 390. However, in the fifth over of the morning, Tillekeratne, who had added nine runs to his overnight score of 25, was beaten for pace and adjudged lbw to Waqar Younis for the fast bowler`s only wicket of the in- nings. Akram was hit for 20 runs in his opening four overs by de Silva but literally bounced back to take two for six in a five over spell. With two rearing deliveries, he sent back Pubudu Dasanayake for three and Kumara Dharmasena for one. De Silva, who had been the only batsman to look comfortable against the Pakistan attack finally fell for 127, becoming one of off-spinner Akram Raza`s three victims. He had batted 211 minutes and faced 156 balls, hitting one six and 19 fours. Off the next delivery, Raza had Muthiah Muralidharan caught by Asif Mujtaba at short leg and two balls later, Jayananda Warnaweera was caught and bowled, giving Raza figures of three for 46. However when Pakistan batted, the pitch was still playing truly with only the odd lifting ball causing any concern. At 40, Anwar was missed by Pubudu Dasanayake off Muthiah Muralidharan when the ball lobbed off the wicketkeeper`s glove. At the close Pakistan were 238-2, a lead of 402, and have two more days left in the game. ====> Day 3, more Pakistan aim to set Sri Lanka a second-innings target of 500 and then get wrist-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed to bowl them out in the last two days of the first cricket test which resumes on Saturday after a rest day. Pakistan finished the third day on Thursday strongly placed at 238 for two in their second innings with an overall lead of 402 and opening batsman Saeed Anwar 110 not out. "We are in a very commanding position now. The pitch is turn- ing but not that alarmingly. I think probably our wrist spinner Mushtaq Ahmed will get more out of it," Pakistan manager and coach Intikhab Alam said. "We will play on till we get another 100 runs, till lunch. Then we will try to pres- surise the Sri Lankan batsmen and try to get them out." Ara- vinda de Silva, the Sri Lankan vice-captain, was the only batsman to play the varied Pakistan bowling attack with any confidence in the first innings during which he scored his seventh test hun- dred. "I don`t think we bowled well against him. We bowled too many balls on the leg side. In the next innings he will not get many there," Intikhab said. "Aravinda played very well. He was very positive in his approach and very effective." "It is one of the best innings I have seen in test cricket," Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga said. "The most important thing is he played positively. He got runs off the loose balls." Ranatunga expects the going to be tough on Saturday. "I think the Pakistan spinners will be a threat. But if we bat po- sitively and try to apply ourselves to the task, we stand a chance of drawing the test," he said. Thanks Reuter. Contributed by vicky (vigneswa@sisko.ecs.umass.edu) ====> Day 4, 13 Aug 1994 Fast bowler Wasim Akram snapped up five wickets on Saturday to help Pakistan crush Sri Lanka by 301 runs in the first test with more than a day to spare. Sri Lanka, set an immense second- innings target of 483 for victory, were dismissed for 181 an hour before the scheduled close of the fourth day`s play to suffer one of their worst test defeats. Akram was their scourge, taking five for 43 including three wickets in 10 balls. Pakistan, 238 for two overnight after a rest day, closed their second innings at lunch at 318 for four, with Saeed Anwar scoring 136. Akram and fellow paceman Waqar Younis accounted for the first three wickets in their opening spells. Akram gained the first break- through when Sanath Jayasuriya, who had scored the only run on the board, played a poor shot and wicket-keeper Rashid Latif took a magnificent diving catch to his right. Waqar sent back out- of-form Asanka Gurusinha for eight, caught off the inside edge by Asif Mujtaba at short leg, and then dismissed Aravinda de Silva for five. De Silva, who scored 127 in Sri Lanka`s first innings, played too early and offered a simple return catch to the bowler. Off-spinner Akram Raza took over from Waqar and captured the wickets of Hashan Tillekeratne for eight and Roshan Mahanama for 37 as Sri Lanka tottered to 59 for five. Tillekeratne fell to a superb diving catch by the bowler as he drove hard and Mahanama, who batted 108 minutes and hit five fours, was caught off pad and glove by susbstitute fielder Zahid Fazal at silly point. Arjuna Ranatunga and Pubuda Dasanayake halted the slide, adding 49 runs for the sixth wicket but they were only delaying the inevitable. Akram claimed four of the last five wickets which fell after the tea interval as Pakistan went one up in the three-test series. Thanks Reuter. Contributed by vicky (vigneswa@sisko.ecs.umass.edu)