Pakistan A look to their seniors for inspiration

Sa'adi Thawfeeq

June 24, 2001

With the series deadlocked after two drawn 'Tests', Pakistan A will try to draw some inspiration from the deeds of their senior team at the Galle International Stadium, when they meet Sri Lanka A in the third and final four-day 'Test' beginning on Monday.

Moin Khan's Pakistan side subjected Sri Lanka to their only defeat in five Tests played at this venue since 1998 when they won by a big margin of 163 runs last year.

It was the only occasion the Galle pitch helped the seamers and Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Abdur Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood revelled in the conditions 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 have recorded three wins and drawn one.

It was a memorable Test for Razzaq who became the youngest bowler to 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, and Pakistan A can gain some inspiration from that.

The only setback they face is that two of their quickest bowlers who can exploit such a wicket are not fully fit. Shabbir Ahmed has been ruled out of the series with a groin strain and will concentrate on playing only in the one-dayers. Irfan Fazil, who has a long run-up, bowled only four overs in the Sri Lanka A second innings before pulling up due to a stiff back, which coach Mudassar Nazar said was a result of him having to carry a heavy workload. Irfan is expected to play on Monday.

Though the series is deadlocked, Sri Lanka A came the closest to victory when 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 winning result is furthest from their minds in contests of this nature. Hemantha Devapriya (Sri Lanka) and Mudassar Nazar have both said that if they can find about four to five players who could fit into the national team, then they would have achieved something from the series, although Devapriya admitted that if there is a possibility of a win, they wouldn't ignore that factor.

The weather in this part of the country is a worrying factor. But curator and Galle District CA secretary Jayananda Warnaweera promised that it wouldn't be a problem and little time would be lost as the ground had been upgraded to face such vagaries of the weather.

In a bid to give those who have not got an opportunity to display their talent in the series so far, the national selectors have made radical changes to the squad of 15 named for the 'Test'.

Missing from the squad that was on duty at the NCC are Dhammika Sudarshana, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Indika de Saram, Suresh Perera, Akalanka Ganegama and Sajeeva Weerakoon. They are replaced by opening batsman Shantha Kalavitigoda, wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, leg-spinner Malinga Bandara, left-arm fast bowler Ruchira Perera, and all-rounders Malintha 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 trying out two batsman/wicket-keepers in the first two 'Tests', the selectors have resorted to a genuine glovesman in Prasanna Jayawardene.

The advent of the one-day game has brought to the fore batsmen who can keep wickets. This has to some extent spread into the longer game as well where a batsman/wicket-keeper stands a better chance of being selected than a genuine wicket-keeper who can bat a little down the order. Jayawardene faces such a calamity. To make matters worse he has not been able to retain a 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 to display 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), Avishka Gunawardana, Shantha Kalavitigoda, Michael Vandort, Jeevantha Kulatunga, Chamara Silva, Muthumuthalige Pushpakumara, Gayan Wijekoon, Malintha Warnapura, 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, Azam Hussain.

Umpires: Peter Manuel and Jagath Nandakumar, Match Referee: Roger Wijesuriya.

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