Sports
Sri Lanka offer second Test to Pakistan on a platter
by Rex Clementine
It was a maniac day of Test cricket at Sinhalese Sports Club ground yesterday as Sri Lanka offered Pakistan the second Test match on a platter with some horror batting and indiscipline bowling and only rain seem to be capable of saving them from losing the game and the series.
SSC gives two hoots about the press and has the worst press box in the world. Even unfancied grounds like Rajkot in the far-off Gujarat or Potchefstroom in the remote part of South Africa have got far better facilities for the press than SSC.
But nobody will grumble about other facilities at SSC. Among many other comforts, SSC also has the best pitch in the country, where batters make merry and the outfield is electric and your batting exploits are marked by the venue’s brand-new electronic scoreboard, the first at an international venue in Sri Lanka.
Usually, when captains win the toss at SSC, 400 runs is a guarantee, but you’ve got to give the first session to the bowlers. Sri Lanka forgot that cardinal rule and paid the price, a big one.
Of all people, Dimuth Karunaratne, who has played cricket all his life at SSC should have known better. The Sri Lankan captain pushed one to covers and attempted a single and his batting partner Nishan Madushka was run out by a Shan Masood direct hit.
But the damage had been done in the first session where Sri Lanka slumped to 36 for four.
There was a brief recovery when Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal added 85 runs for the fifth wicket but both batters fell for loose shots to sum up the day for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka did get two wickets and should have had a third, but Abdullah Shafique was dropped on 42 by Prabath Jayasuriya off his own bowling.
Pakistan only trail by 21 runs with eight wickets in hand and Sri Lanka have their back to the walls after some sloppy cricket on the opening day.