Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 1st ODI at Dambulla, Jul 11 2015 - Ball by Ball Commentary

That's all we have for you. Join us again for the second ODI, which will be a day-night affair from Pallekele on July 15. Until then, its goodbye

"Great team performance, everyone played their part. Hafeez had an exceptional day. Played like a champion with ball an dbat," Azhar Ali says "Restricting Sri Lanka to 250 was great. Last 10 overs was great. Hafeez got crucial wickets at crucial times. All the bowlers were disciplined and I think it was backed up by the batsman very well. Everyone was positive and performed their roles. Nowadays you have to piclk up wickets to stop runs. That message is clear. Whenever the bowlers feel they can pick wickets, they should. Yasir is very confident. Hit for a few boundaries early on, but he's got great temeperament. Sri Lanka can come back strong and we need to be mindful of that. Really important with the team is in a rebuilding phase you need experience to guide the youngsters"

Mohammad Hafeez is the Man of the Match. "Definitely. I have to put that [scrutiny on his bowling action] aside and concentrate on what is in my hands. We wanted to have a good series in the ODIs. Wanted to continue the tempo from the Test team. It's a great game, always great to see Pakistan's young players do well [Shan Masood] played a very good innings to contribute to victory. We wanted to have a good start to the series. First the bowlers did a great job to restrict them to 250 and then we could attack. No pressure. Just played normally. It was a new plan, the green signal was given by the management. They gave me the licence to play aggressively and it worked"

"Initially 255 was below par on the wicket. It was a bit spungy and turning quite a bit as well. It got better in the second half, but we just couldn't put a score," Mathews says, "Couldn't pick up wickets at crucial stages. Hafeez batted really well. We didn't play our best cricket, but hopefully we can come back better in the next few games. Good couple of days off now, been playing non-stop. Just need to prepare mentally. No complication about the change of rules. Had a good team meeting. Keep an eye on the rules, keeps changing, makes it even harder. But we have to deal with it"

5.30 pm It was supposed to be a good total. The pitch was offering sharpish bounce to the seamers, so driving on the up was rather hard. It needed a big effort and it came from Mohammad Hafeez. A very composed century - his fourth against Sri Lanka - to blunt their attack and give them no hope of mounting a come back. Also remember that he took four good wickets earlier as well. A shoo in for the Man of the Match.

There were a few questions raised against Angelo Mathews' captaincy though. He underbowled himself and Suranga Lakmal as well. Overbowled Seekuge Prasanna who lacked for accuracy all through his spell. Lasith Malinga appeared to be struggling for fitness as well. The bowling attack lost them the game

Adnan Maqsood: "Suddenly this Pakistani side is a different team. They are denouncing all the odds - rather regularities for them - and turning it on. Something has revolutionized these boys, may be an emotional speech or a threat." --- Why a threat?

alan: "Debut for Siriwardana, but he only bowled 2 overs. SL have too many so called allrounders that we don't know whether they will bat or bowl in any particular day. Only god knows what they will do on a day. "

Siriwardena now

CricFan: "Absolutely poor captaincy by Mathews. Still trying with Prassanna why not himself, Lakmal, Thisara & Sriwardena" --- Maybe he knew they were going to lose it and decided to test the newer bowlers out?