With the series deadlocked after two drawn ‘Tests’, Pakistan A willtry to draw some inspiration from the deeds of their senior team at theGalle International Stadium, when they meet Sri Lanka A in the third andfinal four-day ‘Test’ beginning on
Sa'adi Thawfeeq24-Jun-2001With the series deadlocked after two drawn ‘Tests’, Pakistan A willtry to draw some inspiration from the deeds of their senior team at theGalle International Stadium, when they meet Sri Lanka A in the third andfinal four-day ‘Test’ beginning on Monday.Moin Khan’s Pakistan side subjected Sri Lanka to their only defeat in fiveTests played at this venue since 1998 when they won by a big margin of 163runs last year.It was the only occasion the Galle pitch helped the seamers and WasimAkram, Waqar Younis, Abdur Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood revelled in theconditions to take 17 of the 19 wickets that fell to the bowlers.On the other four occasions it has helped the spinners and Sri Lanka haverecorded three wins and drawn one.It was a memorable Test for Razzaq who became the youngest bowlerto take a hat-trick and the first to achieve the feat in Sri Lanka.The pitch for Monday’s unofficial Test is expected to help the seamers, andPakistan A can gain some inspiration from that.The only setback they face is that two of their quickest bowlers who canexploit such a wicket are not fully fit. Shabbir Ahmed has been ruled outof the series with a groin strain and will concentrate on playingonly in the one-dayers. Irfan Fazil, who has a long run-up, bowled only fourovers in the Sri Lanka A second innings before pulling up due to a stiffback, which coach Mudassar Nazar said was a result of him having to carry aheavy workload. Irfan is expected to play on Monday.Though the series is deadlocked, Sri Lanka A came the closest to victorywhen they were one wicket away from success in the first ‘Test’ at Dambulla.However, as the thinking of the two coaches in the team goes, a winningresult is furthest from their minds in contests of this nature. HemanthaDevapriya (Sri Lanka) and Mudassar Nazar have both said that if they canfind about four to five players who could fit into the national team, thenthey would have achieved something from the series, although Devapriyaadmitted that if there is a possibility of a win, they wouldn’t ignore thatfactor.The weather in this part of the country is a worrying factor. But curatorand Galle District CA secretary Jayananda Warnaweera promised that it wouldn’tbe a problem and little time would be lost as the ground had been upgraded toface such vagaries of the weather.In a bid to give those who have not got an opportunity to display theirtalent in the series so far, the national selectors have made radicalchanges to the squad of 15 named for the ‘Test’.Missing from the squad that was on duty at the NCC are DhammikaSudarshana, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Indika de Saram, Suresh Perera, AkalankaGanegama and Sajeeva Weerakoon. They are replaced by opening batsmanShantha Kalavitigoda, wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, leg-spinnerMalinga Bandara, left-arm fast bowler Ruchira Perera, and all-roundersMalintha Warnapura and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara.Perera and Pushpakumara return to the squad after missing out at the NCC,but the most interesting change is that of the wicket-keeper. After tryingout two batsman/wicket-keepers in the first two ‘Tests’, the selectors haveresorted to a genuine glovesman in Prasanna Jayawardene.The advent of the one-day game has brought to the fore batsmen who can keepwickets. This has to some extent spread into the longer game as well wherea batsman/wicket-keeper stands a better chance of being selected than agenuine wicket-keeper who can bat a little down the order. Jayawardenefaces such a calamity. To make matters worse he has not been able to retaina regular place at the SSC and, in the only Test he was picked to play(against Pakistan at Kandy in June 2000) he never got an opportunity todisplay his wicket-keeping prowess as rain prevented Pakistan from batting.Now at Galle, Jayawardene finally gets an opportunity to press his claims for a Test place on his wicket-keeping abilities alone. A good performance would surely put pressure on the selectors to include him for the forthcoming Test series against India.The teams: Sri Lanka A (from): Tilan Samaraweera (captain), AvishkaGunawardana, Shantha Kalavitigoda, Michael Vandort, Jeevantha Kulatunga,Chamara Silva, Muthumuthalige Pushpakumara, Gayan Wijekoon, MalinthaWarnapura, Prasanna Jayawardene, Ruchira Perera, Ishara Amerasinghe,Dinusha Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Chandana Samarasinghe.Pakistan A (from): Hasan Raza (captain), Imran Farhat, Faisal Naveed,Toufiq Umer, Qaiser Abbas, Humayun Farhat, Misbah-ul-Haq, Yasir Arafat,Danish Kaneria, Irfan Fazil, Najaf Shah, Salman Butt, Kashif Raza, AzamHussain.Umpires: Peter Manuel and Jagath Nandakumar, Match Referee: Roger Wijesuriya.
