da dobrowin： Galle continues to be a happy hunting ground for Pakistan’s seam bowlers.Twelve months after Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq and Waqar Younis bowled outSri Lanka to win a three-match Test series, Irfan Fazil, Pakistan A’sfastest bowler, overwhelmed Sri
Charlie Austin25-Jun-2001Galle continues to be a happy hunting ground for Pakistan’s seam bowlers.Twelve months after Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq and Waqar Younis bowled outSri Lanka to win a three-match Test series, Irfan Fazil, Pakistan A’sfastest bowler, overwhelmed Sri Lanka A’s batsmen on the first day of thefinal unofficial Test Match.Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, there can be no excuses. Unlike last year whenthe pitch was tailor made for Pakistan’s bowlers, today’s surface was devoid of live grass and pedestrian in pace. Sri Lanka A wasted the advantage of winning the toss and were bowled out for just 141 in 59.2 overs.Irfan Fazil grabbed six Sri Lankan wickets for just 38 runs to record hisbest ever first class bowling analysis. The 19-year-old bowled three spellsin all, but was most destructive in his final two-over burst after tea, in whichhe clean bowled three batsmen with fast reverse swinging yorkers, straightout of the Waqar Younis school of toe crushers.The 19-year-old has played one Test Match, against Sri Lanka last year inKarachi, but on the evidence of this tour he will be soon playing again forthe senior side. An enthusiastic cricketer, forever pestering the Press Boxfor bowling statistics, he generates his pace from a wonderfully rhythmicallong run-up and classically side ways on action. The result is a 90mph fastbowler that swings the new ball out and the new ball in.Sri Lanka at least fought back in the evening by taking three top-orderwickets. If Prasanna Jayawardene, widely considered the best wicket keeperin Sri Lanka, had grasped a difficult one-handed chance off Hasan Raza, theycould even ended have the day in the ascendancy. As it was Pakistan were wellplaced on 75 for three at the close of play.Earlier, Avishka Gunawardene had single handedly held Sri Lanka’s battingtogether for the second match in succession. Still sore this morning from amatch winning unbeaten 82 in the Mercantile Cricket Tournament yesterday, hepummeled a belligerent 53 from 66 balls. He would have scored more too had Raza not shrewdly plugged his chief scoring area, the deep point boundary, right from the start of his innings.Unfortunately for Sri Lanka he swung lazily through the line of DanishKaneria’s first ball of the match to be caught at cover on the stroke oflunch. Sri Lanka’s last eight wickets fell for 70 runs.Raza brought Imran Fazil back into the attack soon after the interval for afour-over burst, in which he claimed the wickets of Jeeantha Kulatunga andChamara Silva. Kulatunga skewed a catch to backward point as he tried to cuta wide delivery and Silva, who faced 75 balls for his nine runs, was cleanbowled as he shouldered arms to a straight fast delivery. Sri Lanka were 103for five.Malintha Warnapura, one of seven changes to the Sri Lankan side that playedin Colombo last week, then added 15 runs in 43 minutes for the sixth wicketwith Jayawardene, before being caught behind off Yasir Arafat. Irfan Fazilthen returned after tea to mop up the tail in style.