Debutants perform well for both teams

Chris DHAMBARAGE reporting from Galle

On a day which marked the emergence of four promising debutants Sri Lanka and Pakistan shared the honours on day one of their opening Test match which got underway at the Galle International Stadium yesterday.

Sri Lanka struggled to reach 292 runs in their first innings after been put into bat and the visitors lost both openers within the first four overs to finish the day at 15 for 2 in reply. Even then the day certainly belonged to Mohammed Aamer and Angelo Mathews who made a fine impact in their very first appearance in a Test match..

If Mohammed Aamer and Abdur Rauf gave the visitors the initiative then Angelo Mathews performed equally well to revive the Sri Lankan innings with a brave performance. The dynamic all rounder who became the 112th player to win a Test cap for his country took up the challenge into the Pakistan camp and went about his task in his own style.

Mathews unleashed a superb counter attack with a 57 ball 42 inclusive of six boundaries and also added 47 runs for the seventh wicket from just 42 minutes along with Nuwan Kulasekera. The situation was probably tailor made for Mathews as he walked into the middle shortly before tea after the dismissal of Thilan Samaraweera.

The 22 year old right hander responded magnificently and look set for a big score before he was undone by a slow bouncer from Umar Gul. However it was the two newcomers Mohammed Aamer and Abdur Rauf that really put the home side on the defensive with some clever bowling.

In fact 17 year old Aamer made a great start to his Test career while picking up two wickets in three overs during a sensational opening burst.

The left arm seamer did enough to justify Younis Khan’s decision to bowl first by having the home side struggling at 21 for 2 after 5.1 overs.

Sri Lanka would have been in more trouble had Pakistan held on to the catches with at least two chances let down off Tharanga Paranavithana and Mahela Jayawardena. In fact former captain Jayawardena had a life before he had opened scoring when he was dropped by wicket keeper Kamran Akmal off Mohammed Aamer.

Jayawardena of course failed to capitalize on that lapse but Tharanga Paranavithana snatched the opportunity to complete his maiden Test half century after two unsuccessful attempts. Paranavitana was particularly severe and struck back to back boundaries in Aamer’s fifth over pass mid wicket to cross his previous best of 21, with five fours.

The elegant left hander reached his half century with another big over where he took 11 runs off Rauf, and reached the landmark in just 66 deliveries. However Rauf came back strongly later on to claim the wickets of Paranavithana and Jayawardena.

Sri Lanka of course went in without a specialist wicket keeper and gave a Test cap to Angelo Mathews with Tillekeratne Dilshan taking over the duties behind the stumps. In addition the 31 year old left arm spinner Rangana Herath replaced the injured Muttiah Muralitharan.

Meanwhile Mohammad Yousuf made a comeback, becoming the first ICL player to play a Test again where he took Faisal Iqbal’s place in the Pakistan team. (Galle, Saturday).

SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS

M. Warnapura b Aamer			 2
T. Paranavitana c Misbah b Rauf		72
K. Sangakkara c Malik b Aamer		 9
M. Jayawardene c Akmal b Rauf		30
T. Samaraweera c Akmal b Younus		31
T. Dilshan c Malik b Aamer		28
A. Mathews c Akmal b Gul		42
N. Kulasekera c Akmal b Younus		38
R. Herath not out			20
T. Thushara c Manzoor b Ajmal		10
A. Mendis st Akmal b Ajmal		 5
EXTRAS: (b1, lb3, nb1)			 5
TOTAL (all out, 81 overs)		292

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Warnapura), 2-21 (Sangakkara), 3-96 (Jayawardene), 
	 	 4-139 (Paranavitana), 5-160 (Samaraweera), 6-194 (Dilshan), 7-241 (Mathews), 
		 8-271 (Kulasekera), 9-282 (Thushara), 10-292 (Mendis).

BOWLING: Gul 14-3-45-1 (nb1), 
	 Aamer 19-3-74-3, 
	 Rauf 14-1-59-2, 
	 Younus 7-2-23-2, 
	 Ajmal 24-4-79-2, 
	 Malik 3-1-8-0.
	  

PAKISTAN 1ST INNINGS

Khurram Manzoor lbw b Thushara		 2
Salman Butt b Kulasekera		 0
Younus Khan not out			 7
Abdur Rauf not out			 0
EXTRAS: (b5, lb1)			 6
TOTAL (for 2 wkts, 7 overs)		15

TO BAT: Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, 
	Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Butt), 2-5 (Manzoor).

BOWLING: Kulasekera 4-0-7-1, 
	 Thushara 3-2-2-1