September 29 Sunday 2002
Pakistan A triumph after Naved Latif's assault

MULTAN: A brilliant 89 by middle-order batsman Naved Latif, and consistently penetrative and economical bowling by the Pakistan A pacemen, made the visiting Sri Lanka A's batting crumble as they surrendered a 49-run defeat in the first one-day match between the two sides, here at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

Naved's excellent display, and an innings of great character by Peshawar's Yasir Hameed helped Pakistan A to a solid-looking total of 257 for six in the allotted 50 overs. Najaf Shah, Junaid Zia and Yasir Arafat all took two wickets each and left-arm spinner Qaiser Abbas bagged three as the tourists were all out for 208 with two overs to 
spare. 

Pakistan A lost two wickets early after having been sent in, at the lush green Stadium here with an enthusiastic, sizeable crowd watching. Left-handed opener Salman Butt then completed a useful 33 off 51 balls hitting four fours on the way. Yasir Hameed and Naved got together to add 122 for the fourth wicket in a matter of 22.2 overs. Of these Naved contributed 89, off just 83 balls with three sixes and 10 fours. Off the last 43 deliveries of the innings, Pakistan A added a useful 52 runs.

Of the Sri Lanka A batsmen, only opener Michael Vandort, a left-hander who made 77 off 86 balls with 11 boundaries, and skipper Thilan Samaraweera (35 off 62 balls with one four) put up some resistance. Their back had already been broken though and they found the 124 runs that they required off the last 21 overs quite difficult to attain.

The two A teams played a two-match series of four-day games earlier on, with either winning once each. They now go on to play another one-dayer, at Faisalabad on Tuesday, and a third one in Lahore on October 3.

Sri Lanka A won toss
Pakistan A
Babar Naeem c Fernando b de Silva 4
Salman Butt lbw b Samaraweera 33
Kamran Sajid run out (Lakshitha) 9
Yasir Hameed run out (Fernando) 70
Naved Latif b Ranjith 89
* Moin Khan c Seneviratne b Ranjith 20
Qaiser Abbas not out 3
Yasir Arafat not out 8
Extras (lb3, w14, nb4) 21
Total (6 wkts, 50 overs) 257

Did not bat: Junaid Zia, Umar Gul, Najaf Shah

Fall: 1-11, 2-35, 3-83, 4-205, 5-243, 6-247

Bowling: de Silva 9-0-50-1 (1nb, 9w); Ranjith 10-0-45-2 (3nb, 1w); 
Lakshitha 10-0-48-0 (1w); Samaraweera 9-0-46-1 (2w); Jayasinghe 9-1-40-0; Mubarak 3-0-25-0

Sri Lanka A
D A Gunawardene b Najaf 15
M G Vandort b Qaiser 77
M N Nawaz c Moin b Yasir Arafat 6
K P P B Seneviratne c Yasir Hameed b Junaid 5
J Mubarak c Moin b Junaid 5
*T T Samaraweera c Qaiser b Najaf 35
C S Fernando lbw b Qaiser 16
C U Jayasinghe c Moin b Yasir Arafat 2
M K G C P Lakshitha b Qaiser 11
P N Ranjith not out 14
W R S de Silva c Junaid b Babar 5
Extras (lb6, w11) 17
Total (all out, 48 overs) 208

Fall: 1-41, 2-79, 3-86, 4-95, 5-134, 6-159, 7-162, 8-186, 9-190
Bowling: Umar Gul 7-0-36-0 (2w); Najaf 8-1-32-2 (3w); Junaid 10-1-41-2 (4w); Yasir Arafat 10-0-32-2 (1w); Kamran 2-0-16-0; Qaiser 10-0-41-3 (1w); Babar 1-0-4-1

Result: Pakistan A won by 49 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Man of the Match: Naved Latif (Pakistan A)

Umpires: Asad Rauf & Saleem Badar. TV umpire: Islam Khan. Match 
referee: Anwar Khan.

Remaining matches: Second one-dayer, at Faisalabad on October 1, third one-dayer, at Lahore on October 3.