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| Sunday, 24 October 2004 |
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Jayasuriya (253) puts Lanka in control Chris Dhambarage reporting from Pakistan FAISALABAD, Pakistan - Dashing opener Sanath Jayasuriya powered his way to a third double century as Sri Lanka took full control on the fourth day of the Paktel GSM Cup first test match against Pakistan at the Iqbal Stadium here on Saturday. The 35-year-old veteran hammered or actually plundered the Pakistan bowling to all parts of the ground as Sri Lanka piled up a massive 438 runs in their first innings which gave them an overall lead of 417 runs. Jayasuriya decided to cut loose after having completed his century as he raced from 150 to 200 in just 94 minutes and 77 deliveries. He was running out of partners at one stage with Thilan Samaraweera, Jehan Mubarak and Romesh Kaluwitharana all departing within the space of ten runs. And when Chaminda Vaas and Rangana Herath made their exit inside three overs Sri Lanka were in real danger of being bowled out for under 350 runs. However, Jayasuriya had different ideas as he launched a severe assault on the Pakistan attack with some superb shot selections with a mixer of caution and aggression. He protected the tailenders quite successfully by taking most of the strike as he put on a record 101 runs for the ninth wicket along with Dilhara Fernando. They beat the previous best of 52 runs put on by Aravinda de Silva and Romesh Ratnayake at this same venue in 1985/86. Jayasuriya also became the highest individual scorer for Sri Lanka against Pakistan beating the previous best effort of 230 made by Kumar Sangakkara in 2001/2002 at Lahore. He also moved closer towards becoming the highest run getter for his country and is now only 144 runs short of overcoming Aravinda de Silva's record of 6361 runs. Even then Jayasuriya was not really bothered about the records and the statistics and his main intention was to occupy the crease as long as possible. He could have even got passed his career best effort of 340 runs had he received good support from the late order batsmen. But instead he was up against the two tailenders and decided against taking the singles which meant that he missed a good 20 to 25 runs at the end. The manner in which he reached the double hundred was quite outstanding as he hoisted fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar into the stands for his second six. This was in fact a repeat performance because he completed his hundred too in a similar manner. Before that he edged Abdul Razzaq for two boundaries in successive deliveries through the third man area after Pakistan had delayed in taking the new ball until the 98th over of the innings. Jayasuriya then decided to take on Shoaib Akhtar by pulling the fast bowler for three fours through square leg in successive deliveries. The new ball did not bring the desired results for Pakistan as they switched back to the tactics of using the two spinners from both ends. But Jayasuriya treated the spinners as he did against the fast bowlers while hoisting Shoaib Malik for two sixes in successive deliveries and on both occasions the ball cleared the fence by more than 25 yards. And when he was eventually trapped by Danesh Kaneria for a majestic 253 Jayasuriya had batted for 490 minutes, faced 347 balls and struck 33 fours and four sixes. Jayasuriya rated his effort as one of the toughest innings he had completed in his career considering the amount of pressure and the circumstances the team was facing. His task became even more difficult as he lost his skipper Marvan Atapattu in the very first over of the innings. The veteran left-hander said that his main objective was to occupy the crease as long as possible and settle down to build up a good partnership. He said that the support provided by Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and later by Samaraweera was really encouraging which helped him to bat throughout the third day. Jayasuriya said that batting with players like Sangakkara and Jayawardena is quite easy because they keep on rotating the strike with singles and that puts the pressure back on the opposition. The only disappointment was when Thilan Samaraweera was run out following a terrible misunderstanding between these two players. Samaraweera had already made up his mind for a third run after Jayasuriya had pulled Shoaib Akhtar to the mid wicket area. In the meantime Yousuf Youhanna had made good ground and his quick pick up and throw saw Abdul Razzaq do the needful leaving Samaraweera way out of the crease. Samaraweera's patient knock of 21 runs lasted for 96 minutes and came in 65 deliveries and also he put on 93 runs for the fourth wicket with Jayasuriya in 96 minutes and 143 deliveries. Jayasuriya himself survived a run out in the morning session when he scampered home for a quick single with Chaminda Vaas. He just managed to beat Yasir Hameed's direct hit at the non strikers end after the decision was referred to the third umpire. Jayasuriya had just completed 150 runs earlier with his 21st boundary off 224 balls and 352 minutes of batting time. Sri Lanka were eventually dismissed shortly before tea for 438 the fifth occasion that they had gone pass the 400 run mark in test matches against Pakistan and the third time they had done it at this same venue. They made 479 during the 1985/86 series and again scored 454 in 1981/82. This means that Pakistan had the daunting task of scoring 418 runs to win the test match. In fact the highest fourth innings total to win a test match is 418 for 7 made by the West Indies against Australia at St. John's. The odds are certainly against the home side because Pakistan's highest fourth innings total to win a test match has been 315 for 9 which they made against Australia at Karachi ten years ago. Pakistan of course made a promising start to their run chase before Dilhara Fernando rocked them with a hostile spell of bowling. The Pakistani openers Yasir Hameed and Irfan Farahat went about their task in style putting on 50 runs in just 56 deliveries and in under one hours of batting time. Farahat looked quite aggressive from the beginning but paid the penalty for playing across and was trapped in front of the wicket by fast bowler Dilhara Fernando. His knock of 53 was studded with ten hits to the ropes and batted for 85 minutes facing 63 deliveries. But Dilhara Fernando brought an end to Pakistan's progress with a destructive spell of bowling where he captured the first four wickets to give Sri Lanka a real chance of pulling off the game and to go one up in the series. He captured the prize wicket of Inzamam ul Haq with a beauty that came in and knocked off the bails while completely surprising the batsman. Earlier he uprooted the stumps of Asim Kamal with a good inswinger having trapped openers Yasir Hameed and Irfan Farahat in front of the wicket. Fernando said that he had a great deal of success while bowling from close to the wicket and was rewarded for his accuracy. The lanky fast bowler said that he has done his part well and now Sri Lanka could wrap up the game early on the fifth and final day. SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS 243
(T. Samaraweera 100, Shoaib Akhtar 5-60, Mohammad Sami 4-71)
PAKISTAN 1ST INNINGS 264
(Yasir Hameed 58, Shoaib Malik 48; R. Herath 3-68)
SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS (overnight 285-3)
M. Atapattu lbw b Akhtar 0
S. Jayasuriya lbw b Kaneria 253
K. Sangakkara c Moin b Akhtar 59
M. Jayawardene c Moin b Kaneria 57
T. Samaraweera run out 21
J. Mubarak c Moin b Akhtar 0
R. Kaluwitharana c sub (Naveed) b Kaneria 1
C. Vaas b Malik 4
R. Herath lbw b Kaneria 5
D. Fernando run out 1
L. Malinga not out 0
EXTRAS: (b 12, lb 5, nb 12, w 3, 5 penalty) 37
TOTAL: 438
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-98, 3-216, 4-309, 5-314,
6-319, 7-330, 8-337, 9-438
BOWLING: Akhtar 25-1-115-3, Sami 12-1-48-0,
Razzaq 22-7-78-0, Kaneria 38.2-4-117-4,
Malik 12-1-58-1.
PAKISTAN 2ND INNINGS
Yasir Hameed lbw b Fernando 17
Imran Farhat lbw b Fernando 53
Asim Kamal b Fernando 1
Inzamam-ul Haq b Fernando 3
Yousuf Youhana not out 23
Shoaib Malik not out 3
EXTRAS: (b4, nb5, w5) 14
TOTAL: (for four wkts) 114
TO BAT: Abdul Razzaq, Moin Khan, Mohammad Sami,
Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-59, 2-65, 3-86, 4-91,
BOWLING: Vaas 9-1-42-0, Malinga 6-2-13-0,
Herath 14-4-27-0, Fernando 9-2-27-4,
Jayasuriya 3-2-1-0.
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