Led by a century from their captain Sami Aslam and a fifty from Kamran Ghulam, Pakistan Under-19s held their nerve to secure a two-wicket win over India Under-19s. The win puts them on top of Group A, sealing a spot in the semi-finals. Faced with a target of 251, Aslam kept the chase under control with a well-paced 108 off 119 balls. Once he fell, Ghulam took over, guiding the lower order even as India pulled back with wickets. Two wickets in the 49th and 50th over put some pressure on Pakistan, who were seeking six runs off the last over, but Zafar Gohar hit two fours to seal the victory.Earlier, Ricky Bhui’s 64 helped India post 250 for 7 after regular strikes from the Pakistan bowlers prevented India’s top-order from making good on their starts. Bhui’s knock off 66 balls with three fours and two sixes.Riding on a hundred from Kusal Mendis and an unbeaten 62 from Priyamal Perera, Sri Lanka Under-19s stumbled to a two-wicket win over Bangladesh Under-19s in Abu Dhabi. The win helped them qualify for the semi-finals where they will play India. Set a target of 204, the 108-run fourth-wicket stand between Mendis and Perera put Sri Lanka in a comfortable position at 180 for 3. However, Sri Lanka lost their next five wickets for 13 runs, sliding to 193 for 8, before Perera and AK Tyronne got the required runs. Earlier, a fifty from Nazmul Hossain Shanto, and useful contributions from Mosaddek Hossain and Yasir Ali helped Bangladesh put up 203 for 6.Afghanistan Under-19s needed a total of just 26.4 overs to thump Malaysia Under-19s by 10 wickets in Abu Dhabi. Malaysia, who were bundled out for 50 and 32 in their previous two games, collapsed once again for 40 as medium-pacer Sayed Shirzad spearheaded an incisive bowling performance from Afghanistan. Malaysia’s captain Muhammad Ramli was the team’s top-scorer with 12, while their other 10 batsmen collectively contributed just 22 runs between them. Shirzad finished with 4 for 10, and Abdullah Adil picked up three scalps. to bowl Malaysia in 23.2 overs.Afghanistan’s openers Shahidullah and Ihsanullah completed the paltry chase in just 20 balls, hitting five fours and a six between them. Afghanistan will now play Pakistan in the semi-finals.A four-for from left-arm spinner Sushan Bhari and a knock of 48 from Aarif Sheikh helped Nepal Under-19s seal a four-wicket win over United Arab Emirates Under-19s in Sharjah. Nepal were struggling at 49 for 3 before Sheikh anchored the chase with useful partnerships. After Sheikh was out, Siddhant Lohani and Rahul Pratap Singh ensured Nepal ended up on the winning side, finishing the game in 33 overs. Earlier, Bhari and left-arm pacer Lalit Bhandari kept chipping away with wickets to restrict UAE to 159. Dan D’Souza was the top-scorer for UAE with 32, in an innings where a few other batsmen got starts but couldn’t play on. Bhari finished with 4 for 34, while Bhandari took 3 for 43.

MatériaMais Notícias

Cuca costuma dizer que prefere desempenho a resultado nas primeiras rodadas do Brasileirão. Jogando bem, o time provavelmente somará pontos suficientes para se manter no pelotão de frente e, mais importante, ganhará corpo e confiança para os momentos mais agudos da competição, quando, aí sim, pode ser preciso vencer partidas “na marra”. Neste contexto, o empate sem gols com o Bahia na manhã deste domingo até poderia ser aceitável, desde que o time tivesse feito um bom jogo. Não foi o caso.

Essa foi, sem dúvida, a pior atuação do São Paulo em cinco rodadas de Brasileirão. Isso se não tiver sido a pior atuação desde a chegada de Cuca, que está à frente da equipe há oito partidas. E com os dois jogadores de quem a torcida mais espera, Pato e Hernanes, começando juntos pela primeira vez.

O primeiro tempo do São Paulo se resumiu a um chute mascado de Antony que bateu na trave direita do goleiro Douglas. Hernanes e Pato se posicionavam entre os zagueiros e se revezavam na tentativa de buscar jogo com Tchê Tchê e Liziero, em uma estratégia que não deu certo diante de um adversário muito fechado e muito disciplinado taticamente. Para piorar, Liziero torceu o tornozelo e saiu logo aos 13 minutos. Luan, que entrou em seu lugar, quase nunca aparece como um armador, o que deixou o time um pouco mais travado. Era preciso mais Pato, mais Hernanes, mais Antony, mais Toró… Mas nenhum deles conseguia entrar no jogo. As individualidades não funcionavam.

Cuca mudou no intervalo. Tirou Pato (talvez fosse melhor mantê-lo em campo e afastá-lo da área, onde rende mais), passou Toró da esquerda para o comando de ataque, colocou Helinho aberto pela direita (depois pela esquerda) e inverteu Antony para a esquerda (depois de novo para a direita). Hernanes passou a buscar mais a bola, como armador, e consequentemente a participar mais do jogo. Mas, tecnicamente, não foi o dia do Profeta. Ele errou demais, não conseguiu fazer associações com Tchê Tchê – que invertia com Hudson e ia para a lateral em diversos momentos, tentando dar mais jogo ao time pelo lado, também sem eficácia.

A última cartada foi a entrada de Nenê no lugar de Hernanes, possivelmente uma aposta na capacidade do camisa 10 de cair também pelas beiradas, abrindo a defesa baiana (talvez Igor Gomes tivesse sido uma opção melhor, por ser mais dinâmico e até mais incisivo). Mas logo o VAR entrou em ação para expulsar Toró por um pisão aparentemente involuntário no ombro do goleiro Douglas, e o São Paulo se desmantelou de vez.

A partir da expulsão, o Tricolor não teve organização nenhuma para atacar e viu o Bahia ficar mais perto da vitória. Até a saída de bola perdeu a lógica, com chutões de Volpi e algumas bolas na fogueira dos jogadores de defesa. O Morumbi se calou até o apito final, quando voltou a subir o volume para vaiar o time com justiça.

São Paulo e Bahia voltam a se enfrentar na quarta-feira, às 21h30, novamente no Morumbi, dessa vez pelas oitavas de final da Copa do Brasil. O time de Cuca precisará de muito mais alternativas para superar os comandados de Roger Machado, que provavelmente apostarão de novo no ferrolho à frente da área.

Nigeria landed in Colombo on Sunday for a nine-day tour during which they will play four Twenty20s

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2014

Nigeria landed in Colombo on Sunday for a nine-day tour during which they will play four Twenty20s. Sri Lanka Cricket said it was hosting the Nigeria national team to “uplift the standard of cricket of the Associate Members of ICC”.The tour by Nigeria comes three months after Kenya had played seven Twenty20s in Sri Lanka. The opposition for Kenya had been a strong Sri Lanka A team which included the likes of Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne and Shaminda Eranga.Over the last month, Sri Lanka had also hosted Afghanistan’s training camp for the Asia Cup.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKumar Sangakkara became only the second batsman after Graham Gooch to score a triple hundred and a hundred in a Test•AFP

Kumar Sangakkara eased, almost casually, to a 35th career hundred in a Test match already heaving with his runs, completing a feat only Graham Gooch had achieved before him. A whip over the midwicket ropes took him over 100 in almost the same fashion he had brought up his triple century in the first innings, and raised his match-tally to 424 – the third highest in Tests. Thanks in large part to his epic labours, Sri Lanka have almost certainly made themselves safe in the Test, with one full day remaining to chase a 2-0 result.A resurgent Dinesh Chandimal registered a measured ton of his own, to stretch Sri Lanka’s advantage on the fourth afternoon and evening. The declaration, at 305 for 4, came upon his entry to triple figures, leaving Bangladesh with one day and 25 minutes to bat out. They went to stumps unscathed after eight tense overs, 455 runs adrift of the visitors.Sangakkara’s numbers against Bangladesh have now moved into a superhuman realm. In his last eight innings against them, he has hit 994 runs, never failing in that stretch to cross 50. In fact, only six times in 21 trips to the crease against Bangladesh, has Sangakkara failed to notch a half-century. An average of 95.57 is unsurprisingly his highest against any team.On this occasion, Bangladesh can blame their torment on a fielding error. On 36, Sangakkara attempted to blast over the deep midwicket rope, but mis-hit a ball from Shakib Al Hasan to Nasir Hossain, who only had to run a few metres to his left. Shakib had built significant pressure alongside Mahmudullah to provoke the stroke and, upon seeing the catch grassed, he scratched his head in extreme frustration, holding back fury.Sangakkara’s progress took an irritatingly familiar form for Bangladesh, who employed various fields against him but could not stem the effortless flow of runs. With Sri Lanka having lost three relatively cheap wickets, Sangakkara only pursued the poor balls with aggression – sliding back to slam the short deliveries with particular disdain. Mostly, he busied himself with strike rotation, giving constant nuggets of advice to Chandimal, who was fighting for form. It wasn’t until he neared his ton that he began to assert himself. Until then, he had collected his runs almost on the sly.Chandimal was similarly averse to belligerence, and just as efficient at risk-free accumulation. He hit only four fours in nearly three hours at the crease, yet scored his runs at a strike rate of 63. Shakib had troubled him in doses throughout the innings, spinning some past his blade and striking him on the pad, but the grit that had been absent from his game returned. His 145-run stand with Sangakkara was the flesh of Sri Lanka’s second innings, after the two had been joined at 78 for 3.Perhaps aware Chandimal was short of some self-confidence ahead of two months of less-favoured limited-overs cricket, Angelo Mathews delayed the declaration until the batsman had reached his third Test century – all of which have come against Bangladesh. Chandimal may now look with more enthusiasm at the task of leading his team in the World Twenty20 in six weeks.The hosts’ only breakthrough in the middle-session had been Mahela Jayawardene’s wicket for 11. Shakib pitched one on off and got it to straighten, striking Jayawardene on the front pad in front of middle. Jayawardene felt the ball had not turned sharply enough to hit leg stump, but replays did not offer a conclusive answer. Again the most aggressive among the hosts’ spinners, Shakib would have felt he bowled better than figures of 1 for 80 suggest.The morning session had belonged to Mahmudullah, however, even after he had hit the fourth ball of the day straight to short leg, when his side would have hoped to whittle their first-innings deficit down to 150. After the Sri Lanka openers had begun tentatively against Al-Amin Hossain, who delivered a spell of seaming deliveries that generated surprising bounce, Mahmudullah arrived to dismiss both of them. Dimuth Karunaratne ended a frustrating series by edging a cut shot to slip, and Silva underestimated the turn Mahmudullah would generate with one of his few aggressive balls of the day.Suranga Lakmal also got the ball moving in the afternoon, and although Shamsur Rahman followed him with his hands more than any batting coach would advise, the opener managed to account for the movement through hand-eye co-ordination. Shamsur and Tamim Iqbal survived close shouts before stumps were drawn, with the team score on 12.

انتهت مساء الإثنين منافسات الجولة الثانية من الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز بفوز آرسنال الصعب ضد كريستال بالاس بهدف دون رد.

وشهدت الجولة فوز ليفربول على بورنموث بثلاثة أهداف مقابل هدف، بينما فاز مانشستر سيتي بهدف نظيف ضد نيوكاسل.

وتعرض مانشستر يونايتد، في الجولة نفسها، للخسارة أمام توتنهام بهدفين دون رد، أما تشيلسي فقد سقط بثلاثة أهداف لهدف أمام وست هام. ترتيب الدوري الإنجليزي بعد نهاية الجولة الثانية

1 برايتون، 6 نقاط.

2 مانشستر سيتي، 6 نقاط.

3 آرسنال، 6 نقاط.

4 برينتفورد، 4 نقاط.

5 ليفربول، 4 نقاط.

6 توتنهام، 4 نقاط.

7 وست هام، 4 نقاط.

8 نيوكاسل يونايتد، 3 نقاط.

9 أستون فيلا، 3 نقاط.

10 نوتينجهام فورست، 3 نقاط.

11 كريستال بالاس، 3 نقاط.

12 مانشستر يونايتد، 3 نقاط.

13 فولهام، 3 نقاط.

14 بورنموث، نقطة.

15 تشيلسي، نقطة.

16 شيفيلد يونايتد، بلا نقاط.

17 لوتون تاون، بلا نقاط.

18 بيرنلي، بلا نقاط.

19 ولفرهامبتون، بلا نقاط.

20 إيفرتون، بلا نقاط.

ويمكن متابعة ترتيب الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، موسم 2023/24، محدث بشكل مستمر من هنا.

Mark Boucher has called on the ICC to think about “what’s important to the game and what isn’t” when they sanction players for breaching the code of conduct

Firdose Moonda01-Mar-2014Mark Boucher, South Africa’s former wicketkeeper, has called on the ICC to think about “what’s important to the game and what isn’t” when they sanction players for breaching the code of conduct. Boucher was referencing the discrepancies in the sanctions handed out to Faf du Plessis and David Warner during the ongoing series.In ‘s television build-up to the third Test match in Cape Town, Boucher said the ICC should “get its ducks in a row,” when it comes to applying discipline.David Warner was fined 15% of his match fee for making what match referee Roshan Mahanama called “disrespectful,” comments which “publicly denigrated an opponent,” when he suggested to an Australian radio station that South Africa had achieved reverse swing in Port Elizabeth through dubious means.Contrastingly, Faf du Plessis had to hand over 50% of his match fee for a second clothing violation within the last 12 months. Du Plessis took to the field in Port Elizabeth with green shoelaces instead of the white ones which are stipulated as the acceptable gear for Test matches. In November 2013, du Plessis wore shoes with a red tongue instead of a white one.Both those are in contravention with clause 2.1.1 of the ICC’s code of conduct for players and player support personnel. Because they occurred within a 12-month period, the minimum fine of half the player’s match fee, was imposed. Boucher said he thought du Plessis’ offence was not in the same vein as Warner’s and he could not understand why the South African was so harshly punished.

Alex Hales had no doubt that his match-winning hundred against Sri Lanka was the most important contribution of his international career to date.

Alan Gardner in Chittagong27-Mar-2014Alex Hales had no doubt that his match-winning hundred against Sri Lanka, the first time an England batsman had reached three figures in a T20 international, was the most important contribution of his international career to date. Hales’ stunning innings led England to their highest chase in the format to reignite a smouldering World T20 campaign.”It’s an amazing feeling. It still hasn’t sunk in what’s happened,” Hales said afterwards, looking remarkably cool despite having just launched an enormous six to win the match with four balls to spare. Twice out in the 90s previously, Hales broke the three-figure barrier by clearing the boundary off Nuwan Kulasekara’s penultimate over, from which 16 runs came in total to bring England’s target of 190 within reach.”I always had the confidence I would get the chance again,” he said. “Hundreds don’t come around very often in the short format so I’m buzzing I got it today and in a huge fixture for our country.”Alex Hales made England’s first hundred in a T20•Getty ImagesAfter a shambolic performance in the field, when England dropped four catches and missed a run-out, they flopped out of the blocks at the start of the chase, Kulasekara removing Michael Lumb and Moeen Ali in a double-wicket maiden. Hales and Eoin Morgan, slowly at first and then with increasing assurance, rebuilt the innings and by the time their 152-run partnership was broken, the pendulum was beginning to swing England’s way.”It wasn’t an ideal start but we saw by the way they batted it was an excellent wicket and the way Morgy came in straight away and took the game back to them made my job a lot easier,” Hales said. “We had plans to stay in the game as long as we could, get a partnership and reassess at the halfway stage. It paid off.”Morgan and Jos Buttler fell in the same over but Ravi Bopara deftly glided his first two balls from Lasith Malinga for four to keep England up with the asking rate. Although they had needed to score two runs a ball for around half the innings, Hales said that he began to feel the victory was possible “with six or seven overs left”.”We needed about 12 an over so we always knew it would be a tough ask,” he said. “But Morgy played brilliantly and then Ravi came in against the danger man Malinga and hit the first two balls for four. It was brilliant to see.”The win, against the No. 1-ranked side and one of the favourites for the competition, pushes England back into contention into what is turning into a close-fought group. A difficult winter in Australia has been followed by stop-start limited-overs form, a young and experimental squad disrupted by injuries while uncertainty remains about the currently vacant head coach’s position. Reaching the knockout stages in Bangladesh would an unexpected, and welcome, success”It would be massive for us, we are underdogs in this tournament, playing in the subcontinent historically we haven’t gone too well,” Hales said. “This win will help us build momentum for the next two games, we’ve still got to play Holland and SA. I think if we perform to the best of our ability we’ll get two wins.”Hales was dropped by Mahela Jayawardene on 55, small change after England donated four similar straightforward misses during the Sri Lanka innings but ultimately of great importance. Two overs later, Hales targeted Ajantha Mendis repeatedly through the leg side, hitting three sixes in an over that cost 25. In 2014, Hales had previously made 125 runs in seven innings for England; he almost equalled that in one dramatic fusillade here. A celebratory glass of wine has been well earned.”It hasn’t been a great winter personally, I probably didn’t do as well in the Big Bash as I’d have liked,” Hales said. “But I’ve still felt confident, I’ve been hitting the ball well in the nets and felt a big score was close. I’m pleased it came today in a winning side.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Ataque que mais vezes balançou as redes em 2019, com 63 gols em 38 jogos, o Bahia tem também no seu sistema defensivo uma arma para ir bem nesse Campeonato Brasileiro. Se na frente Gilberto, Artur e Fernandão tem decidido, mais atrás quem vem segurando as pontas é o volante Gregore.

Líder de desarmes certos do Brasileirão 2018, junto com Cuellar, do Flamengo, com 115 roubos de bola, segundo dados do Footstats, o jogador de 25 anos aparece novamente no topo do ranking nesta edição. Passadas sete rodadas do campeonato, o cabeça de área já acumula 23 recuperações de posse, três a mais que o zagueiro Lucas Verissimo, do Santos, o segundo. Veja o top 10:

LÍDERES DE DESARMES DO BRASILEIRÃO 2019
– Dados do Footstats

1º – Gregore – Bahia – 23 desarmes certos
2º – Lucas Verissimo – Santos – 20desarmes certos
3º – Fabinho – Ceará -19desarmes certos
4º – Fagner – Corinthians – 18desarmes certos
5º – Marcos Rocha – Palmeiras – 17desarmes certos
Cuesta – Internacional – 17desarmes certos
7° – Diogo Barbosa – Palmeiras – 16desarmes certos
Geromel – Grêmio – 16desarmes certos
Fernando Sobral – Ceará – 16desarmes certos
10º – Cuellar – Flamengo – 15desarmes certos
Márcio Araújo – Chapecoense – 15desarmes certos
Caio Henrique – Fluminense – 15desarmes certos
Ricardo Graça – Vasco – 15desarmes certos
Lucas Mineiro – Vasco – 15desarmes certos
Matheus Henrique – Grêmio – 15desarmes certos
Gabriel Dias – Fortaleza – 15desarmes certos

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Zimbabwe thought they’d sealed the deal. The scores were tied and there were three deliveries remaining. Surely it could not go wrong from there? Vusi Sibanda ensured it didn’t. Eventually.

Firdose Moonda19-Mar-2014

Zimbabwe thought they’d sealed the deal, albeit fortuitously, when Sean Williams’ inside edge skooted past Wesley Baressi for four. The scores were tied and there were three deliveries remaining. Surely it could not go wrong from there?Williams missed the next ball but the scores were still tired and there were two deliveries remaining. Surely it could not go wrong from there?Then Williams ran himself out trying to scramble a single to ensure it did not go wrong. The scores were tied and there was only one delivery remaining. It could easily go wrong from there.Vusi Sibanda was under intense scrutiny. He was batting well outside of his regular opening berth, having being pushed all the way down to No. 6 because of the strategy on the day. He also didn’t inspire much confidence. He only averages 15.28 in the format, an indictment for a batsman of his quality. Two of his last five T20 scores were in single fingers and when he did get going, he failed to push on. In the last match, he succumbed to the pull shot – the stroke that he tends to go back to when he feels cornered and that is often responsible for his undoing.Against that backdrop, he had to face more pressure than has befallen him. It was not the pressure of building an innings but the pressure of ending one. At least someone one backed him to stand up to it.”Vusi has been playing international cricket for 10 years; he is a very talented player,” Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe captain, said. “Obviously it was not a familiar position that he is used to and something new to him. But we always had faith in him and when the field’s up, it does make it a little bit easier.”All Netherlands fielders were saving the single so Sibanda’s only choice was to go over them. He sent Ahsan Malik’s last ball further into the stands than anyone else had managed to in the match to remove Zimbabwean worries and keep them alive in the competition.Sibanda gave fighting spirit a new image, one Taylor feels it could have done without, given what it did to his nerves. “We needed that win but we made it very difficult for ourselves,” he said. “We shouldn’t have finished in the last over.”Taylor felt the same about Zimbabwe’s first match against Ireland. That was decided on the last ball as well and then, Taylor blamed his batsmen for not posting a sizeable enough score to defend. Then, a total of 180 on this pitch looked par, this time Taylor thought it had much less in it and felt responsibility lay with his fielders for not restricting Netherlands even further. “We leaked 15 or 20 runs and we should have restricted them to 120,” he said. “We were really sloppy and we made it a lot more difficult than it should have been.”Although Zimbabwe did not drop any catches, they were lazy in protecting the boundary and on three occasions, lost the ball as it approached the rope. They were also beaten too often in the infield and sometimes, more times than Taylor was happy with, failed to pick up the ball cleanly when chasing. Taylor identified that as one of the areas they need to improve on before their last qualifier on Friday.Despite letting Netherlands get away a bit, Zimbabwe never felt the chase was out of their grasp, even when the run-rate ballooned over nine. “We felt we needed wickets in hand,” Taylor said. “Chasing 140 with a quick outfield on a pretty decent wicket to bat on, if you have got wickets in hand, you can always chase 10, 12 or even13 runs an over at the end.” And if you are Sibanda you can even get six off the final ball.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsLasith Malinga reasserted his skill for rattling chases in a tight finish, after Lahiru Thirimanne had proclaimed his relevance to the ODI format, as Sri Lanka sputtered to a thrilling win in the Asia Cup opener in Fatullah.Pakistan lost their top order cheaply, surged, collapsed, then surged briefly again, in search of 297, but the total that had been set up by Thirimanne’s 102 was 12 too many, despite half-centuries from Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal.Malinga’s 5 for 52 was his first in ODIs since January 2012, as he claimed the two last Pakistan scalps in an unflappable 49th over replete with tailing yorkers. Bilawal Bhatti and Saeed Ajmal had managed 17 runs from the previous over to whittle the requirement down to 17 from two overs, but Ajmal was caught in front by a yorker, and Bhatti had one clatter into his off stump. Bhatti’s wicket was Malinga’s 250th, and he achieved the milestone faster than any other Sri Lanka bowler, beating Muttiah Muralitharan by 11 matches.Pakistan had earlier seemed in control, with 55 needed off 46 balls and six wickets in hand, thanks to the 121-run stand between Misbah and Akmal. But Malinga was vital to quelling that charge too. He struck twice in four balls in the 45th over, to swing the match strongly in Sri Lanka’s favour, before dismissing Umar Gul in his next. All of his wickets came in his last 15 balls.Lasith Malinga’s five wickets came in his last 15 balls•AFP

During Sri Lanka’s innings, Thirimanne’s 161-run stand, off 146 balls, with Kumar Sangakkara had been the centrepiece. The pair pushed the run rate close to six, promising a total well in excess of 300, but a stutter in the batting Powerplay and a focused Pakistan, led by Saeed Ajmal, in the late overs ensured they did not finish with force.Thirimanne, backed by the selectors to open instead of Mahela Jayawardene, was fluent from the outset, and despite his strike rate of 92.72, was rarely ruled by aggression. A crisp cover drive off Gul brought him his first boundary in the second over, and that stroke – his favourite – proved equally productive against spin. Casually authoritative on the off side to begin with, Thirimanne eventually added a leg side element to his play, even swinging Mohammad Hafeez over deep midwicket for six, in the 31st over.In between the sweetly struck fours, Thirimanne was also adept at measuring singles. Aided by a surface that offered little seam movement or turn, and by Sangakkara’s enterprise at the other end, he eased to his half-century in the 20th over, then launched an offensive after the 25th.For a batsman who has spent much of the past two months sidelined with injury, Thirimanne was as stoic as he was confident. The nineties drew no fidgets or hair-brained strokes. He flitted through them, as he had done throughout his stay, to record his second triple-figure score in ODIs. The milestone, fittingly, came from a cover drive. The celebration, typically, was understated.Though Thirimanne had modeled his strokes and approach on his senior partner, Sangakkara had not been quite so mellow. Often he strode forward against the quicks to make length deliveries overpitched, and his initiative became Sri Lanka’s impetus. He hit 67 from 65 balls, before thumping an Umar Gul bouncer to the only infielder on the leg side.Angelo Mathews embellished his regained stature as a finisher with an unbeaten 55 off 50 balls, but with no secure ally at the other end, he could not attack freely at the close. Ajmal’s varied final spell was Sri Lanka’s biggest hindrance. He finished with 1 for 50 from his full quota, while Umar Gul, who strangely only bowled eight overs, took 2 for 38.Pakistan had fizzled to 121 for 4 in response, before a measured Misbah and an impetuous Akmal fanned the embers of the chase, only to let it grow cold when triumph was in sight.There was little to separate this Misbah half-century from the dozens he has scored in the past 14 months. A staccato of curt defensive prods and opportunistic nurdles broken by startling, occasional blasts: a whack over long-on off Thisara Perera and a slog over midwicket off Sachithra Senanayake cleared the ropes with ease. His innings could have ended at 44 when he gave a feather-edge off Suranga Lakmal, but as the only giveaway to Misbah’s indiscretion was one muffled, woody note, the umpire was unmoved.Akmal’s progress was smoother, until he unleashed towards the end. He carted Suranga Lakmal for 16 in the 41st over and slammed two fours off debutant left-arm spinner Chaturanga de Silva in the next. Angelo Mathews bravely kept Lakmal on and the bowler was rewarded with an edge to the keeper that sparked Pakistan’s late stumble. When Misbah leathered Malinga to deep square leg, it appeared Pakistan were all but done.Lakmal had delivered four overs of accurate away-seam with the new ball, claiming Sharjeel Khan’s wicket, but though he dismissed Akmal, his figures in the final overs suggested he has not yet developed a head for death bowling. Senanayake and de Silva took one wicket apiece, and Mathews himself took the key scalp of Mohammad Hafeez, who had been Sri Lanka’s primary tormentor during the bilateral series in December.