Pakistan junior team confident of beating Sri Lankans

The junior Pakistan and Sri Lanka sides lock horns again Wednesday in the second one-dayer at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

After a convincing nine-wicket victory in Karachi over the touring side in the opening match of the five-game series, the Pakistan camp is confident of scoring another win over their rivals as both sides prepare for next year's Junior World Cup in New Zealand.

Pakistan coach Haroon Rasheed told Dawn that conditions in Rawalpindi were a lot different than what they were in Karachi. "The wicket is grassy and the fast bowlers should play an important part in tomorrow's game." He added that the dew factor also had to be kept in mind.

The home players had nets for more than three hours Tuesday and Haroon said that all the boys were in good shape. "We will go into the match with a positive attitude and we are not complacent one bit."

The Sri Lankan manager Bandula Warnapura after watching the pitch also held similar views. "If the pitch remains (grassy) as it is by tomorrow, it is going to help the seamers."

He said that his team had lost the first match because five of his batsmen were run out. "That we still scored 198 runs shows that our batting is good and I am positive the batsmen will put up an improved show tomorrow."

Warnapaura also expressed surprise over western media reports about security concerns in Pakistan in the wake of the war in Afghanistan. "I don't see any security problems here and would even advise the other foreign teams that Pakistan is a safe place to play cricket."

Earlier, New Zealand had refused to tour Pakistan for a Test series following the events of September 11 in the United States. Also, a tour by the West Indies next year is in doubt.