Paranavitana steers Sri Lanka A to 94-run win

Tharanga Paranavitana scored his second successive half-century of the Emerging Team Trophy to guide Sri Lanka to a comprehensive 94-run victory over Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

While India and Pakistan have struggled to get to terms with the seaming pitches, Sri Lanka showed that it didn't hold any terrors by rattling up an impressive 251 for 8 off 50 overs after being put in, and then dismissing Pakistan for 157 in 36.2 overs.

By the end of the first round robin matches, Sri Lanka, who picked up another bonus point yesterday, topped the standings with 12 points, while Pakistan had six and India none. All three teams have played two matches each. The second round of matches start on Wednesday after a rest day today.

Sri Lanka's innings was anchored by Paranavitana, 21, a product of St. Mary's College, Kegalle. He followed up his unbeaten 54 against India on Saturday with an equally compelling knock yesterday. Pacing his innings out according to the nature of the pitch, Paranavitana took 100 balls to complete his half-century which included just a solitary boundary. He then took a few liberties afterwards to hit a further four fours before holing out to cover in the 43rd over with Sri Lanka on 195.

Paranavithana shared three half-century stands with Upul Tharanga (29), Jeevan Mendis (26) and Malintha Gajanayake (14). Shortly after his dismissal, Sri Lanka lost their way as five wickets tumbled for 40 runs off 32 balls. But Sri Lanka had by then posted a big enough total to bowl at, especially when their three-pronged seam attack of Tharanga Lakshitha, Nuwan Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga made early inroads into the Pakistan batting, reducing them to 89 for 6 in the 20th over.

The only noteworthy partnership of their innings was when Amin-ur-Rehman, the wicketkeeper, joined opener Usman Tariq. They put on exactly 50 runs off 54 balls for the seventh wicket, but Usman's dismissal for 76 at the start of the 29th over ended Pakistan's hopes of holding out till the end. Usman played the anchor role with 76 off 85 balls with nine fours before mistiming an on-drive off Kulasekara to give Gajanayake an easy catch at short midwicket.

Pakistan further compounded their task by having two overs docked off for a slow over-rate. The Pakistani seamers, who had bowled so well on Sunday against India, hurled down 31 wides which contributed to a mammoth total of 47 extras. Champaka Ramanayake, the Sri Lanka coach, said: "With the Pakistanis bowling so many wides in the first 10 overs we were not under any pressure to take any undue risks because our run rate was a healthy five an over."

Meanwhile, Naveed Anjum, the Pakistan coach, insisted his players never played to their potential and added: "I am wondering whether they are still celebrating the victory over India on Sunday. They looked tired and back to back matches are always difficult especially in this heat."