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By Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya continued from where he left off in Morocco and hardly displayed any signs of discomfort from his arm injury as he steered Sri Lanka to a crushing eight-wicket win with his 13th one-day international century in the lung-opener match of the ICC Champions trophy against Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

The Sri Lankan captain made short work of Pakistan's rather moderate total of 200 by scoring an undefeated 102 off 119 balls with 10 fours to take his team to victory in the opening match of the 15-match competition which has all ten Test playing countries participating. Sri Lanka finished on 201 for two wickets off 36.1overs with Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva carrying the team to victory with an unbroken third wicket stand of 156 off 169 balls.

De Silva finished on 66 not out compiling his 60th one-day fifty off 81 balls with five fours, while Jayasuriya became the eighth batsman in the world and only the second Sri Lankan after De Silva to pass 8000 runs in one-day internationals during his match-winning innings that gave him the man-of-the-match award. Jayasuriya began the match with 7928 runs and duly completed it playing in his 271st one-day international.

Sachin Tendulkar (11505), Mohammad Azharuddin (9378), Aravinda de Silva (8733), Inzamam-ul-Haq (8712), Desmond Haynes (8648), Saeed Anwar (8525), Mark Waugh (8500) were the others to complete 8000 runs before Jayasuriya.

The Sri Lankan captain survived a confident appeal for a catch behind the wicket off Wasim Akram at five to post his hundred in style with a square cut boundary. As Jayasuriya and De Silva stepped on the gas and continued to dominate the bowling, frustration began creeping in the Pakistani ranks.

Shahid Afridi got involved in a heated argument with De Silva as they ran into each other at the non-striker's end. The situation was quickly diffused before it got out of hand by umpire Steve Bucknor. Sri Lanka chasing Pakistan's total lost Marvan Atapattu for eight when he ran himself out and Kumar Sangakkara without scoring as he shuffled across to Akram and was caught in front of the wicket.

Sri Lanka lost these two wickets within a run of each other to be 45-2 in the ninth over. But Jayasuriya taking on all responsibilities as captain and the experienced De Silva proved too good for the Pakistanis yesterday.

"I still have this shoulder injury and although I was not 100 percent fit I thought I should put country first and play in this vital first match," said Jayasuriya.

"Aravinda played a big role on the other side which made it easier for me to play my natural game," said Jayasuriya who admitted after the match that he shouldn't have bowled . "Upul didn't bowl well so I thought I should come and bowl a few overs even with the pain. It is sore at the moment," he said. A Pakistan batting line up sans their leading run-scorer in one-day internationals Inzamam ul Haq were strangled by splendid bowling from Sri Lanka to be restricted to a total of 200 in 49.3 overs after choosing to bat first.

It was a disappointing batting performance by the Pakistanis whose scoring rate hardly rose above four an over throughout their innings. The large number of spectators who were there to witness the opening match of the 15-match competition were in for a disappointment because the Pakistan batting never threatened to cut loose at any stage of the innings. Overall there was only 16 boundaries hit and one over it.

The manner in which opener Saeed Anwar batted using up 82 balls for his 43rd one-day fifty set the tone for the rest of the Pakistan batting which was listless in its entirety. The left-hander determined to prove himself and retain his place in the team, batted through 34 overs before finally being caught in the deep square leg boundary attempting to flick Dilhara Fernando. He hit five fours and was let off twice at three by Jayasuriya at slip and at 32 by Chandana at cover.

Anwar apart only Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq who replaced the injured the Inzamam-ul-Haq batted with any purpose. Younis helped Anwar raise 70 off 107 balls for the fourth wicket, after Pakistan had got off to a bad start losing their first three wickets for 17 runs in 5.1 overs. The early blows were struck by Pulasthi Gunaratne who got rid of the dangerous Shahid Afridi for four edging a catch behind the wicket, Chaminda Vaas who accounted for Shoaib Malik and Muttiah Muralitharan who ran out Yousuf Youhanna for a duck when the batsman sent back by Anwar slipped and failed to make his ground.

Muralitharan broke the threatening fourth wicket stand by bowling Younis Khan around his legs for 35 made off 64 balls and then had Rashid Latif caught on the sweep at deep square leg for 22 made off 24 balls.

But Misbah digged himself in to score a valuable 47 off 70 balls with two fours and a six, before being finally out to Fernando who finished with three wickets for 30 off 9.4 overs. Muralitharan also ended up with three wickets which cost him 29 runs. Jayasuriya who was not supposed to bowl in this game surprised many when he came on to twirl his arm around for three overs which yielded 15 runs.

The innings saw Malik become the first victim of the experimental lbw rule when field umpire Daryl Harper referred it to third umpire Rudy Koertzen, who confirmed the ball had pitched in line with leg stump. It also saw Pakistan being awarded five bonus points when a top edged sweep by Latif off Chandana hit the fielder's helmet placed behind the wicket-keeper. Pakistan captain Waqar Younis said that his side played poorly in both departments to lose the match.

"It started off with the batting. As usual we were struggling with the top order batsmen. We wanted to play the first 15 overs without losing a wicket. It didn't happen. We lost early wickets which really put us on the back foot," said Waqar.

"We couldn't really get enough runs on the board. Maybe 240-250 would have been a better score but it didn't happen and we bowled poorly. This is the third time we have struggled with our top order batsmen. We got to really work hard on that, think about it a little bit more and try to bring in some more youngsters. Inzamam not playing was also a big factor. He is still struggling with his knee and heel," he said.

"Saeed was the only batsmen who got runs I was pleased with his performance, but I think he could have done better".

PAKISTAN 

Saeed Anwar c Chandana b Fernando		52
Shahid Afridi c Sangakkara b Gunaratne		 4
Shoaib Malik lbw b Vaas				 1
Yousuf Youhanna run out				 0
Younis Khan b Muralitharan			35
Rashid Latif c Fernando b Muralitharan		22
Misbah-ul-Haq b Fernando			47
Abdur Razzaq c De Silva b Gunaratne		16
Wasim Akram b Muralitharan			 0
Waqar Younis c De Silva b Fernando		 4
Shoaib Akhtar not out				 0

Extras (lb-8, penalty 5, nb-3, w-3)		19
TOTAL ( all out, 49.4 overs) 		       200

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-12 (Afridi), 2-17 (Malik), 
3-17 (Youhanna), 4-87 (Younis), 5-120 (Latif), 
6-141 (Anwar), 7-171 (Razzaq), 8-175 (Akram), 
9-198 (Waqar), 10-200 (Misbah). 

BOWLING: Vaas 10-3-27-1, Gunaratne 10-1-49-2, 
Fernando 9.4-0-30-3 (3w, 3nb), Chandana 7-0-37-0, 
Muralitharan 10-0-29-3, Jayasuriya 3-0-15-0.

SRI LANKA

S. T. Jayasuriya not out			102 
M. S. Atapattu run out			  	  8
K. Sangakkara lbw b Akram			  0
A. de Silva not out				 66

Extras (b-2, lb-7, nb-6, w-10)			 25
TOTAL (2 wkts, 36.1 overs) 			201

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-44 (Atapattu), 2-45 (Sangakkara). 
DID NOT BAT: D. P. M. Jayawardene, R. P. Arnold, U. D. U. 
Chandana, W. P. U. J. C. Vaas, M. Muralitharan, 
C. R. D. Fernando, P. W. Gunaratne. 

BOWLING: Akram 8-0-42-1 (1w, 4nb), Waqar 5-0-37-0 (2w), 
Akhtar 8-0-36-0 (2w, 2nb), Afridi 7.1-0-39-0 (1w), 
Razzaq 3-0-14-0 (1w), Malik 5-0-24-0 (3w).

TODAY: SOUTH AFRICA v WEST INDIES at SSC 10 a.m.

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