Sri Lanka A batted out an anti-climatic final day of the unofficial Test Match at NCC grounds in Colombo to secure a draw and set-up a series decider in the final game in Galle on Monday.
Pakistan doused hopes of an entertaining finale when they elected to bat on for an hour in the morning. Having added 43 runs they finally declared, setting Sri Lanka an unrealistic target of 290 in 72 overs.
Having lost Avishka Gunawardene early on, it soon became clear that Sri Lanka had no intention of chasing victory. They grimly occupied the crease for 71 overs, scoring at less than two runs per over, whilst the Pakistan captain used ten bowlers in all, including Humayun Farhat, the wicket keeper. When, to widespread relief, the umpires finally called it a day Sri Lanka were 129 for three.
In their defense, Pakistan were handicapped by a back injury to, Irfan Fazil, their fastest bowler. Nevertheless, their undue conservatism was disappointing and somewhat perplexing – surely their best chance of victory was to encourage the Sri Lankans to chase?
Mudasser Nazar, the Pakistan coach, admitted afterwards that his team had missed an opportunity: "I am disappointed; I thought that we could have pushed the issue a bit more, but we lost our way after tea yesterday when we lost those quick wickets. Originally we wanted to score 290-300 and give ourselves a whole day to bowl them out. Maybe the target was a little bit too stiff.
A feature of this series has been the low scoring rate. In Dambulla that was understandable because of the slowness of the pitch, but this was a fine batting wicket, perhaps too good for four-day cricket.
According to Mudasser: "The scoring rate has been very disappointing. I think the players are cautious because they are playing for the A team and that they are so desperate to break into the national team. This can have a negative impact on the team, but I am addressing this."
The Sri Lankan coach, Hemantha Devpriya, agreed, adding: "The Sri Lankan selectors are looking for batsmen who can occupy the crease for long periods of time and the players themselves are well aware of that."
Pakistan's only realistic chance of victory today was a beguiling spell of leg spin by Danish Kaneria. He did trouble the Sri Lankans, though perhaps less than the incessant appealing suggested, but Michael Vandort (55) and Dammika Sudharshana (29) eventually settled down to compile a 53 partnership in two hours – this was not pretty cricket.
When Sudharshana was finally dismissed, trapped leg-before wicket by Nafjaf Shah, Tillakaratne Dilshan wasted an opportunity to impress the selectors when he was bowled by the part-time spin of Taufiq Umar. Indika de Saram batted out the innings with Vandort, a natural accumulator, who played solidly for his three-hour 55.
The teams now depart for Galle where they play again in just two days time. Nazar was confident that Irfan Faisal would have recovered from his back strain: "He has suffered from bowling a little too many overs for a man who is very. There is, after all, a lot of cricket on this tour crammed into a very short period." Shabir Ahmed's groin injury is apparently 30 per cent better, but he will not be ready for the next game.
© CricInfo
| Teams | Sri Lanka. |
| Players/Umpires | Avishka Gunawardene, Michael Vandort, Danish Kaneria, Indika de Saram. |
| Tours | Pakistan A in Sri Lanka |
| Scorecard | 2nd Test: Sri Lanka 'A' v Pakistan 'A', 19-22 June 2001 |
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