Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Jayawardene ton gives SL series win


Mahela Jayawardene hammered a superb century as Sri Lanka took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the ODI series against Pakistan.

Lankans prevailed over the visitors with a six-wicket triumph in the third match in Dambulla.

Jayawardene, promoted to the opening slot in place of the dropped Sanath Jayasuriya, hit 123 and put on 202 for the opening wicket with Upul Tharanga (76) as the home side cruised to their target of 289 with three and a half overs to spare.

The visitors, led by a knock of 66 from 19-year-old Umar Akmal, had turned in their best batting display in the series - they played out the full 50 overs for the first time - but it proved to be still some way short.

Jayawardene and Tharanga hammered the bowlers around the park, reducing the contest to a one-sided affair even before the halfway stage in the innings.

Click here for all the action as it unfolded

The duo hit Abdul Razzaq, who had shared the new ball with Mohammad Aamer, out of the attack by plundering 24 runs from his first three overs and the runs continued to flow when Razzaq gave way to Naved-ul Hasan.

Jayawardene reached his 11th one-day century off just 91 deliveries by pulling Razzaq to fine leg for four and he continued to bat on with the aid of a runner due to a bout of cramp.

He eventually fell to Razzaq as a tired swipe went high into the air and straight to Fawad Alam at extra cover.

Tharanga, who had achieved his 10th one-day half-century with a single, had departed just prior to the fall of Jayawardene, a leg before victim to off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.

Replays, however, showed Ajmal was lucky with his appeal.

Tharanga also made quick runs

Sri Lanka's chase faltered slightly thereafter as Thilan Samaraweera was caught by Ajmal off his own bowling for a second ball duck.

Kumar Sangakkara and Thilina Kandamby, elevated to the XI at the expense of Jayasuriya, rebuilt the innings with a 56-run stand for the fourth wicket but Aamer broke that partnership by bowling Kandamby for 32.

Sri Lanka needed a further 21 to win at that stage and Sangakkara hit the winning runs to finish with an unbeaten 37 off 29 deliveries as the home side secured victory inside 47 overs.

In the morning, Umar, brother of Kamran and playing in only his second one-dayer, staved off the threat of a Pakistan collapse with a 65-ball 66.

He anchored the lower half of the order, building useful partnerships with Shahid Afridi (32) and Alam (13) and helping revive an innings which had wobbled following a second-wicket stand of 71 between Younus Khan (44) and Kamran (45).

Pakistan lost opener Nasir Jamshed cheaply and although Younus and Kamran revived the innings and built a solid launch-pad, the visitors appeared to crumble as the middle-order caved in.

Kamran had begun belligerently on a fresh pitch which offered the bowlers little throughout and stepped out of his crease to cart new-ball bowler Nuwan Kulasekara for a boundary in the first over.

Kamran hit seven boundaries in his 45 and just when he looked set to really turn on the heat, he top-edged Angelo Mathews to Sangakkara while attempting to cut.

His replacement, the underperforming Shoaib Malik, followed him quickly back to the dressing room after contributing just 12.

Then, Younus was run out as Pakistan fell from 80 for one to 107 for four.

Umar, who had walked in at the fall of Malik's wicket, had painstakingly rebuilt the innings in the company of Alam (13).

But the latter's inability to rotate the strike against an accurate attack finally consumed him as he stepped out to pull Mathews and instead only presented the all-rounder with his second wicket.

Afridi injected life into a flagging innings with a 20-ball 32 and pyrotechnics from Razzaq (30) and Naved (30) at the death helped Pakistan finish the innings with a flourish.

The action now shifts to Colombo for the remainder of the series.

Click here for the Scorecard

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