Sri Lanka
Making the best use of a flat pitch Sri Lanka have piled on the runs and misery. It was so good that they broke a world record. So one sided that Thilan scored a double ton. 230 at 72 is something you can hardly ignore.
It has upped his average 3 pts to 48 in a single innings. At one point it looked like SL would bat on till a 1000. Luckily they dint make the same mistakes as England a few days ago.
If Mahela wanted to go out on a high in this two test series, he has already managed that in an innings. 250 was looming when the soon to be ex got out to the already ex captain of Pakistan.
But if this is what Mahela has to offer when he is only thinking about giving up the captaincy, for fucks sake don’t wait till the end of the series,I say give it up now.
After losing 3-30 SL declared, Pakistan put on a swift 40, showing how annoyingly dead the pitch was.
Now the task is up to FLY SlIPS own SPLENDID MENDIS and that guy Murali. Who already has a wicket and is looking threatening.
Pakistan
If Pakistan were watching the highlights today they would have had to fast forward the tape, or dvd a fair distance to see them involved in something positive.
When the opposition pile up 600 runs there usually aren’t any good bowler performances. Pakistan did nothing to remedy that situation.
Kaneria bowled nearly 50 overs for his 3 wickets.
The Pakistani spinners bowled 82 overs for 310 for a return of 5 wickets.Yes, the pitch was slow, and it didn’t offer any help, but Pakistan problem is that they don’t have a bowler that would worry Bangladesh at the moment.
The quicks are steady but there isnt anything special about them.
The spinner(s), Danish ‘Pastry’ Kaneria, didn’t look like creating anything special.
They seem leaderless and Younis khan seems to have disappeared on the field altogether.
The one positive is that this pitch will be the same for their batters, so any sort of partnership on day 3 would mean SL will be facing the same problems.
But at least they have Murali, Mendis, Vass, names that wont necessarily scare the life out of a batting side, but names that know how to get wickets on these types of pitches. There will always be a threat through the day and thats the biggest worry for Pakistan.
Where to now
If Pakistan pick up runs in the morning session and put up a partnership, SL might be facing the same task they did.
The pitch is a shit hole for test cricket, nothing in it for fast bowlers and certainly nothing in it for spinners except slow turn, which is not much of a concern in modern cricket.
With the prospect of this breaking up and Pakistan having to bat last on it, this innings will be vital if they are to save this match.
At the moment a draw looks the best bet, unless Mendis and Murali rip Pakistan apart like they did India a few months ago.
Still three days to go and I think this Test is a perfect stage for Murali to remind us all of why he has the most wickets in Test history.
If any man can deceive the batsmen into error on the flattest of pitches it is Muttiah and I won’t be surprised if he, in combination with Splendid, has Pakistan teetering by the end of the day.
I’ll be watching with interest when play begins in an hour and I think that concentration and commitment will be the keys to Pakistan surviving or Sri Lanka setting up the victory.
Check this out:
http://sachtheone.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-nominate.html