Rain ruins first day’s play-Sri Lanka, Pakistan test at Galle
Bad weather washed out the opening day’s play without a ball being bowled in the first test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Galle on Wednesday.
Umpires Paul Reiffel (Australia) and Richard Illingworth (England) along with Match referee Chris Broad called off play around 2.00 pm, hoping for an early start at 9.45am today.
It was a foregone conclusion to anyone who stepped into the stadium that play wouldn’t get underway on time, or at all with the entire ground covered and water saturated on the covers. The picturesque Galle Stadium has been the most successful and happy hunting stadium for Sri Lanka which has been assisting the spinners of either side notably Muthiah Muralitharan and lately Rangana Herath.
‘Murali’ had a rich harvest of wickets in Galle baffling many batsmen with his off spin. Herath has already taken 60 wickets in 11 Test matches in Galle prior to the commencement of the current Test match.
Among the batsmen Mahela Jayawardena has the distinguished honour of scoring the most number of Test runs at the venue (2382) at an average of 70.05 with seven hundreds. Kumar Sangakkara who made his Test debut at Galle, is the second highest run getter 192 runs short of reaching the 2,000 run mark.
Sri Lanka’s Test record is impressive in Galle winning 13out of the 24 Tests played, losing five and six ending in draws.
In year 2000, Pakistan captained by wicket keeper Moin Khan defeated Sri Lankan by an innings and 163 runs in their inaugural Galle Test. Sanath Jayasuriya was the Sri Lanka captain that year.
Sri Lanka were all out for 181 with Mahela Jayawardene 72, and Arjuna Ranatunga 51 among the runs. Abdul Razza took 3 for 35 and the present Pakistan coach Waqar Younis capturing 3 for 39) Pakistan in their turn piled a massive 600 for 8 declared with Saeed Anwar 123, Younis Khan116, Inzamam -Ul-Haq 112 and left arm paceman Wasim Akram 100.
Sri Lanka following on with a huge deficit were all out for 256 with Arjuna Ranarunga top scoring with 654 and the present Sri Lanka coach Marvan Atapattu chipping in with 59. Meanwhile Kumar Sangakkara who wll play his last Test in Galle has a remarkable batting record being the top scorer in a Test against Pakistan in Galle with his 214 scored last year. He also struck an unbeaten 199 in 2012
Categories: Cricket
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