Date-stamped : 04 Oct95 - 14:23 Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Third One-day International Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi, 3 October 1995 ====> Prematch, 2 Oct 95 Sri Lanka`s Third and decisive one day international against pak- istan in Rawalpindi Today - Ranjan Anandappa The curtain will come down on an arduous but very successful tour of Pakistan from the Sri Lankan point of view when the Lankans play their final one-day international Tuesday (3) at the Rawal- pindi Stadium. Like in the Test series, the one-dayers are also evenly placed with both sides winning a match each. At Rawalpindi Stadium Sri Lanka lost their second three-day game by an innings within two days, but they are now vastly improved and will, no doubt, go all out to clinch the one-day series too.In the previous one-day game at Faisalabad, the visitors proved that they are not only good at chasing a target but also defending. Sri Lanka was put in to bat first after losing the toss in both one-dayers. Every Sri Lankan player had discharged his duties towards the team exceptionally well. But Romesh Kaluvitharana`s wicket keep- ing at times has been a bowler`s nightmare. A century-maker in the first one-day match, Saleem Elahi, was dropped twice by him before he reached his century and, in the second one-dayer too, Kaluvitharana put down a straight forward catch off the same batsman when he was threatening to take control of the situation. Sri Lanka`s fielding has been the talking point of the tour. The batsmen and the bowlers also did their job well. Muralitheran, Jayasuriya, Mahanama and Tillekeratne have been the most out- standing fielders. According to match referee Peter Van der Merwe, ``Muralith- eran is the best fielder I have seen off his own bowling. It is very difficult to get anything away from him while bowling,`` said Van der Merwe. Sri Lanka`s main strike bowler Chaminda Vaas may be a doubtful starter for the final one-day match today as he has not recovered fully from his hip injury. In the second one-day match he bowled only 2 overs conceding 21 runs, get- ting the early breakthrough by dismiss- ing Aamir Sohail for 9. Apart from Vaas, the Lankans will field the same team which won at Faisalabad for Tuesday`s game. Pakistan`s team will be known only on the day of the match. Sri Lanka (from): A. Ranatunga, (captain), R. Mahanama, S. Jayasuriya, A. Gurusinghe, A. de Silva, H. Tillekeratne, R. Kaluvitharana, K. Dharmasena, C. Vaas, P. Wickremasinghe, M. Muralitheran, R. Kalpage. Pakistan (from): Ramiz Raja, Aamir Sohail, Saleem Elahi, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Basit Ali, Moin Khan, Aamir Hanif, Ata-ur- Rehmam, Aquib Javed, Arshad Khan, Muhammed Akram, Zahid Fazal, Saeed Anwer. Source :: The Daily News (http://www.lanka.net/lakehouse/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Match Report, 3 Oct 95 Sri Lanka wins third one dayer against Pakistan - Ranjan Anandappa Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 4 wickts in the third game to win the one-day series 2-1 at Rawalpindi, Tuesday. In reply to the Pakistan score of 183 for 9, Sri Lanka reached the target with two balls to spare and 4 wickts remaining. Sri Lanka`s batting heroes were skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and Ara- vinda de Silva who made 32 and 42 respectively. They were involved in a stand of 75 runs for the fourth wicket which paved the way for victory. Skipper Ranatunga was made the man-of-the-match. Arjuna Ranatunga after losing the toss on the previous two occa- sions won the vital toss in the third one and invited Pakistan to bat. The start was delayed due to overnight heavy rain and when the match finally started after several inspections at 12 noon it was reduced to 38 overs per side. Pakistan made two changes bringing in Saeed Azad and Zafar Iqbal for Basit Ali and paceman Ata-ur-Rehman. Sri Lanka too had two changes Eric Upashantha for Vaas and Ruwan Kalpage for Muralith- eran. Pakistan made 283 for 9. Saleem Elahi undoubtedly the find of the series and Aamir Sohail once again gave his side a fine start. The openers put on 47 off the first 10 overs. Inspite of a marvellous fielding display by the Sri Lankans the Pakistan batsmen maintained a steady run rate. Elahi hit Upashantha over cover point for 6. Dharmasena who was introduced into the attack in the 13th over gave Sri Lanka the breakthrough in his second over when Elahi swung Dharmasena to deep mid wicket and Kalpage took a well judged catch. His innings of 30 had 3 fours and a six. Thereafter non of the Pakistan batsmen could really stabilise the innings with Sri Lanka`s fielding at its best, which put the Pakistan batsmen under tremendous pressure. Ramiz jumped out to hit Dharmasena and was stumped by Kalu- vitharana, and Inzamam who looked as if he was just getting into his stride lofting Kalpage for a six to reach his 3000 runs in one day internationals and the 4th Pakistani to do so, after scoring 25 runs swung Aravinda de Silva to be caught at mid wick- et by Sanath Jayasuriya. Kumara Dharmasena got the early three wickets Aravinda de Silva had Inzamam, Saeed Azad and Moin Khan. ====> Message of congratulations President Chandrika Kumaratunga in a message of congratula- tions to the team management, captain and members of the Sri Lankan cricket team on their magnificent and historic victory in the third one day cricket match in Pakistan said: ``Heartiest congratulations on this magnificent victory over Pakistan in the third and final Limited Over One-day Interna- tional cricket match, making another milestone in the history of cricket by winning both the Test and the Limited Over cricket series on foreign soil. ``Perseverence and determination with good team work accounted for the excellent performance and proved to the world that Sri Lanka too is on par with or better at cricket with any other cri- cketing nations.'' ``Once again, I join the rest of the jubilant nation and convey to each member of the team for the excellent job well done``. Source :: The Daily News (http://www.lanka.net/lakehouse/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> more Euphoric Sri Lankans stun Pakistan again - Qamar Ahmed SRI LANKA confirmed their superiority over Pakistan on the present tour, completing their four-wicket win with two deliveries to spare in the decisive third and final one-day game at the Pindi stadium yesterday. Only a couple of days ago the euphoric Sri Lankans had created history by beating Pakistan in a Test series for the first time, having lost the opening match of the three. The pattern in the one-day series was much the same. Sri Lanka lost the first one-day game at Gujranwala by nine wickets, but bounced back to win the last two matches. Because of all-night rain and water leakage through the covers, yesterday`s match was delayed for three hours, and the overs were reduced from 50 to 38. The Sri Lankans restricted Pakistan to 183 for nine, with Kumara Dharmasena and Aravinda de Silva picking up three wickets each. In reply, having lost three wickets for 63 runs in 15 overs, Sri Lanka were rallied by a 75-run fourth-wicket partnership between Arjuna Ranatunga and de Silva. Both the batsmen fell leg before to Amir Hanif for 42 and 32 respectively, leaving Sri Lanka 32 runs to get in the last five overs. In the last over only two runs were required, which the tourists had no difficulty in getting. Earlier Pakistan batsmen disappointed the home crowd of 12,000 with their inept batting display. Except for the opening stand of 55 between Amir Sohail and young Salim Elahi, there was not much resistance in the middle order - though Amir Hanif batted defiantly for his unbeaten 36, and Inzamam-ul-Haq reached 3,000 runs in one-day matches during his innings of 25. Ranatunga, the captain, was the man of the match, and Hashan Til- lekeratne the man of the series for Sri Lanka. Moin Khan, an enthusiastic wicketkeeper, was Pakistan`s man of the series for his batting. Ranatunga said: "We are absolutely delighted to win both the Test and one-day series against Pakistan. We played better cricket and outplayed our hosts." Sri Lanka`s joy was understandable as this was the first Test and one-day series double success in Pakistan by any country since Clive Lloyd`s West Indies side back in 1980-81. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu)