Close Sri Lanka 242 for 9 (Jayasuriya 87, Arnold 57, Shoaib Akhtar 3-30) beat Pakistan 201 (Razzaq 56) by 41 runs

A blistering knock from Sanath Jayasuriya was the difference between the sides, as Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 41 runs in the opening match of the Sharjah Cup.

Jayasuriya, who won the toss and elected to bat, hammered 87 off 78 balls to set Sri Lanka on their way to a 50-overs total of 242 for 9. His dismissal at the halfway mark of the innings left Sri Lanka tottering at 128 for 4, but Russel Arnold hit a valuable 57, adding 43 for the fifth wicket with Romesh Kaluwitharana and 52 off 42 balls for the sixth with Upul Chandana (30).

Jayasuriya smashed 10 boundaries and three sixes in his whirlwind innings and hit 22 runs in one over from Abdul Razzaq. He gave a chance at 72 when he pulled Razzaq to deep square-leg but Yousuf Youhana spilled an easy catch.

Jayasuriya scored at a brisk pace even as his partners fell cheaply at the other end. Kumar Sangakkara managed just 10 in a nine-over opening stand of 50, Marvan Atapattu (6) was caught behind trying to hook Shoaib, and Mahela Jayawardena (8) fell to an uppish on-drive off Razzaq which was taken at midwicket.

Jayasuriya missed his 12th one-day century by 13 runs when he was finally dismissed in the 25th over, edging an away-swinger from Razzaq to wicketkeeper Rashid Latif.

Shoaib Akhtar was the pick of Pakistan's bowlers, taking 3 for 30 in his 10 overs.

Though Sri Lanka lost their last four wickets for 16 runs, Pakistan never recovered from a disastrous start. They were docked one over for being tardy in the field, but when Shahid Afridi played on to Chaminda Vaas, and Younis Khan was caught down the leg side by Kaluwitharana, Pakistan were in difficulties at 30 for 2.

Imran Nazir miscued a short ball from Charitha Buddika, and in the same over Yousuf Youhana holed out to midwicket (65 for 4). And when Inzamam-ul-Haq was stumped while counterattacking against Muralitharan, the end was nigh.

Rashid Latif and Abdur Razzaq made a fist of a comeback, adding 72 runs for the sixth wicket. Razzaq took 19 runs off a Buddika over, but eventually fell for 56 as Pakistan were all out for 201 in the 46th over.

Teams
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Russel Arnold, 6 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Charitha Buddika, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Nuwan Zoysa.

Pakistan 1 Shahid Afridi, 2 Imran Nazir, 3 Yousuf Youhana, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq, 5 Younis Khan, 6 Abdur Razzaq, 7 Rashid Latif (wk), 8 Saqlain Mushtaq, 9 Wasim Akram, 10 Waqar Younis (capt), 11 Shoaib Akhtar.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd