Pakistan Lose 1st Test, Sri Lanka bowlers pull off improbable win

[.BZU.]

Sri Lanka 292 (Paranavitana 72, Aamer 3-74, Younis 2-23) and 217 (Ajmal 3-34, Aamer 3-38, Younis 2-27) beat Pakistan 342 (Yousuf 112, Misbah 56, Kulasekara 4-71) and 117 (Herath 4-15, Thushara 2-21, Mendis 2-27)

Sri Lanka won by 50 runs
Full scorecard
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out


GALLE: Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by 50 runs in the first cricket Test here on Tuesday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Pakistan, chasing a modest target of 168, collapsed from their overnight total of 71-2 to 117 all out just before lunch on the fourth day at the Galle International Stadium.


Asked to bat first, Sri Lanka made 292 runs in its first innings and Pakistan replied with 342, a 50-run lead.

The hosts were dismissed for 217 in their second innings leaving Pakistan with 168-run target to win with two days to spare. But the visitors capitulated Tuesday to be dismissed for 117 runs on the fourth day.

The second Test starts at the P. Sara stadium in Colombo on July 12.

Scores: Sri Lanka 292 (Tharanga Paranavitana 72, Anjelo Mathews 42;Mohammad Aamer 3-74, Younis Khan 2-23) and 217 (TharangaParanavitana 49; Saeed Ajmal 3-34, Mohammad Aamer 3-38)

Pakistan 342 (Mohammad Yousuf 112; Nuwan Kulasekera 4-71, ThilanThushara 2-77) and 117 (Salman Butt 28; Rangana Herath 4-50).




Article:

During a collapse of Pakistani proportions, the incredible Galle Test took a complete U-turn and decisively went Sri Lanka's way. Pakistan started the day needing 97 with eight wickets in hand after Salman Butt and first-innings centurion Mohammad Yousuf had looked good negotiating the last half hour yesterday. But Thilan Thushara and Rangana Herath bowled exceptional spells of varied left-arm bowling to help Sri Lanka take the last eight wickets for just 46.
Pakistan's trouble against left-arm spinners are well documented - even Herath's previous best bowling in Tests had come against Pakistan - and he started the slide with his first ball of the day. Yousuf pretended to play a shot, but the bowl went straight on to get the lbw. A brain freeze from Butt followed, and he holed out to long leg. No run added, two wickets taken, game on.
Though he got just two wickets today, Thushara did the main job. Not a single loose delivery was offered in an eight-over spell during which he beat the batsmen so often that a ball hitting the middle of the bat could make it to a highlights package. Thushara got the ball to move both ways, seaming it away and swinging it in. Kumar Sangakkara read the situation perfectly, employing in-and-out fields, not giving easy release through boundaries, nor singles without an element of maneuvering. With Thushara bowling as he was, maneuvering was not going to come easy.
Thushara got Shoaib Malik with one that moved away, bringing in the last capable batsman, Kamran Akmal. Akmal is quite capable of running away with small chases with fluent doubt-free batting, but nothing loose was on offer. Even when Akmal got a square-cut going the result was just a single because of the field. Nervously Misbah-ul-Haq and Akmal survived 21 deliveries, adding just eight, that too thanks to a misfield that went for four.
Thushara struck again at that time, getting the ball to tail in and trap Akmal lbw. Misbah didn't feel too comfortable either and fell trying to steal a leg-bye off a big lbw appeal. It was the fifth ball of the Thushara over, and he could have been trying to retain the strike, but there was never a run in it.
By the time Thushara and Herath were done with their first spells, Pakistan had lost five wickets for 20 runs in 15 overs. There was no conceivable way then for the tail to get the remaining 77. Especially with Ajantha Mendis yet to bowl, who ended with his first ball a 10-run stand between Abdur Rauf and Umar Gul. The accurate carrom ball was just too good for Gul.
Mohammad Aamer hung around for a bit but Herath came back to finish the match minutes before lunch, ensuring Galle's reputation of being a tough venue to bat last at remained intact.
Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo

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