Pakistan hope to spoil Jayawardene’s farewell

Thursday, 14 August 2014 01:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ESPNCricinfo: The umbrellas went up in Galle almost as soon as Angelo Mathews had swatted away the winning runs for Sri Lanka. Making their way back to the dressing room as the drizzle intensified, Pakistan’s players must have wondered how on earth they lost the Test match after scoring 451 in the first innings. Whether it was their Test-match rustiness or an outcome of over-caution in their second innings, Pakistan simply didn’t maintain their standard of play over five days. Against a team as buoyant as Mathews’ Sri Lanka, you cannot afford to do that. Over the following days, Pakistan’s spirits were further dampened by news of Saeed Ajmal being reported for a suspect action. It is a cliche that Pakistan are at their most dangerous when they have their backs to the wall, but Misbah-ul-Haq’s team will have to believe in that old cornered tigers line as it tries to square the series at the SSC. After a quietly impressive climb up the Test rankings under Misbah, Pakistan are in danger of dropping from third to sixth if they lose the series.

Beating this Sri Lankan side, at a notoriously difficult venue for wicket-taking, will be a difficult ask. More so when they face a team that will want to give its most-capped player a fitting farewell at his favourite venue. Mahela Jayawardene will play his 149th and final Test match, and Sri Lankan cricket will never quite be the same again without those silken drives and late cuts from their No. 4. While filling the Mahela-shaped hole will be a headache in the long-term, Sri Lanka aren’t without more immediate issues to sort out. The opening combination isn’t yet settled, and a recall for Dimuth Karunaratne suggests the team management aren’t quite convinced by Upul Tharanga. All three of their first-choice fast bowlers are battling one niggle or another, and a new-ball combination of Dhammika Prasad and Chanaka Welegedara doesn’t look the most convincing, on paper.

Pakistan’s batsmen will need to put pressure on Sri Lanka’s bowlers, and not let Rangana Herath in particular get on top of them. There is a growing feeling among followers of Pakistan cricket that the formula that led to the team’s rise under Misbah – of cautious batting and run-strangling by spin – is in need of change, and that the natural style of their younger batsmen such as Ahmed Shehzad should be given more space to express itself. A flat batting track and an injury-hit attack will afford Pakistan the opportunity to try and appease their fans. Whether they do so or not remains to be seen.

Jayawardene a rare brand of cricketer, says Mathews

Reuters: Cricketers like Mahela Jayawardene come around very rarely and younger players in the team have a lot to learn from his fighting attitude, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said on the eve of the veteran batsman’s last test match. The second test against Pakistan starting on Thursday will be an emotional one for Sri Lanka and Jayawardene as the 37-year-old bids farewell to test cricket as one of its prolific run-scorers. “As we all know, it’s going to be Mahela’s last game. It’s an emotional moment for everyone... we want to win it for him,” Mathews told reporters on Wednesday. “When you walk into a game, we want to win all the time, that’s the attitude we take, regardless of what’s happening around. We want to keep our focus and play it for Mahela. “It will take a long time to replace him because he’s the kind of player that comes around very rarely. We can’t do his service justice with words. “As a team we’re very sad he’s retiring. The best thing we can do is play well in this match and win it for him.”. Mathews said the team especially the younger players will miss Jayawardene’s presence in the dressing room. Jayawardene will be playing in his 149th test match, the most by a Sri Lankan cricketer. “Mahela is a real fighter. If you go into a warm-up match with him, he’ll still try to fight and win. That’s the kind of character he is, he’s an unbelievable player,” Mathews added. “He puts options on the table and he’s the most senior guy in the team, and we’re going to miss him so much. The younger guys, including me, have learned so much from him. “Up to now, he has supported me right throughout from day one, and I’m really thankful to him for that.” Sri Lanka won the first test of the two-match series by seven wickets at Galle.

Misbah backs Ajmal to come clean on suspect action

Reuters: Pakistan are not worried about Saeed Ajmal’s reporting for a suspect bowling action and are confident that the ace off-spinner will be cleared, captain Misbah-ul-Haq said. Match officials reported Ajmal to the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a suspect bowling action following the first test defeat by Sri Lanka in Galle but is permitted to bowl until his bowling is scrutinised further.

The 36-year-old, who has taken 174 wickets in 34 tests at an average of 27.79, was also reported for the same offence in 2009 but was later cleared by the ICC. “As far as the main bowler Saeed Ajmal is concerned it has been done before and that’s not a worry for us,” Misbah told reporters on the eve of the second test in Colombo. “He’s been through this process before and I hope he will be fine. We will just concentrate on our game and look forward to playing good cricket and try to win this test.” Misbah blamed the lack of consistency from his side for their seven-wicket loss at Galle. “We played well in patches. On and off we performed well and we lacked consistency and could not win every session,” the 40-year-old said. “We want to make sure in this test it doesn’t happen with our batting and back ourselves with good bowling and fielding. We have to improve in all departments.” The Pakistan bowlers struggled to bowl the hosts out in Galle but the captain backed his bowlers to come good. “Their batsmen know these conditions very well. Players like Kumar Sangakkara, who is world class and in good form, when he gets set it will be very difficult for any team to handle their bowlers,” said Misbah. “These are the reasons why it’s not easy to get these batsmen out in good batting conditions. We should not always blame our bowlers in good batting conditions, sometimes you play into the hands of the batsmen.” Sangakkara scored his tenth double hundred in Sri Lanka’s first innings to move second to Don Bradman in the all-time list of test double centuries. Misbah was also aware that getting the wicket of Mahela Jayawardene, who will play his final test, would be crucial for his side. “Everybody knows that he is a class player and in this particular ground he has scored so many runs and so many centuries. As a team we want to get him early,” Misbah added. “He’s a kind of player who can be a dangerous customer. You just can’t go on the records that he has not scored heavily against us. We have to be really focused on him.”