Date-stamped : 02 Oct95 - 10:31 Pakistan v Sri Lanka, First One-day International Municipal Stadium, Gujranwala, 29 September 1995 ====> Prematch, 28 Sep 95 Sri Lanka meet Pakistan in first one-dayer at Gujaranwala on Fri- day - Ranjan Anandappa The first one-day international between Sri Lanka and Pakistan will now be played as scheduled at the Municipal Stadium, Gu- jaranwala on Friday. Earlier the venue was shifted to Sialkot where the third Test was played in which Sri Lanka beat Pakistan convincingly by 144 runs. The Sri Lanka cricket manager Dulip Mendis disapproved the idea of the venue being shifted from the Gujaranwala Municipal Stadium to Sialkot as the facilities at Sialkot was insufficient to stage a match of this nature. The Gujaranwala Stadium was in a grass growing process and the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) officials fearing that it would not be completed in time for the first one-dayer, decided to play the match at Sialkot. The Pakistan Cricket Board after inspecting the stadium has con- firmed that the Municipal Stadium would be ready for the first one day match. The entire cricket series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been sold to a private contractor by the Pakistan Cricket Board and basic facilities for pressmen were lacking at the Sialkot Test. The mediamen (local and foreign) had to cover the Test match without the assistance of a scorer and at times without water. The Sialkot Press Club during the latter stages supplied the media men with lunch, tea etc. The Sri Lanka team left for Lahore from Sialkot by coach soon after the third Test was over on the fifth day after lunch. They will have a practice session today September 28 in the morning. Romesh Kaluvitharana, Ruwan Kalpage and Eric Upashantha have al- ready joined the team for the limited over series. ====> Prematch, more The cowboy game starts again - Elmo Rodrigopulle Established cricket will now take a back seat and in its place will be enacted the `cowboy game', the first of three between Sri Lanka and Pakistan beginning in Gujaranwala, today. The Sri Lankans must certainly be having that over the moon feel- ing after their success in the Test series and having their heads in front for the one-dayers too. With Kalpage, Kaluwitharane and the much-neglected Sanath Jayasuriya, pressing to be included, the selectors on tour would certainly have been wracking their brains, figuring out who to sit out from the Test team. BATTING FORM Kalpage and Kaluwitharane will come in for Muralitheran and Dunushinghe. Then how are they going to poke in Jayasuriya? Hathurusinghe's batting form and medium pace bowling will keep his place safe. With Jayasuriya likely to open, then it will have to be the out- of-form Mahanama or Gurusinha who will miss out. Mahanama has the knack of coming good in the one-dayers if he fails in the Tests as he did in Zimbabwe; then he should be smiling and Gurusinha watching the proceedings from the cool of the pavilion. If Guru- sinha is to play then Dharmasena has to move. Anyway the selectors know their job and are quite competent at that. One thing is certain and that is they will do a job to the best of their ability with the main theme being to maintain the winning sequence. We leave it to them! STILL GROGGY As for the Pakistanis they must still be groggy after the pummel- ling they took in the two Tests. Never in their history has their cricket been so badly battered in the roped circle as by the Lan- kans. What they must be finding difficult to comprehend must be the magnificent Lankan comeback made after losing the first Test by an innings and with more than a day to spare. There is no doubt that there is a lot of turmoil in Pakistan cricket. This is not something new. Pity when one comes to think of the talent that is readily available. Match fixing allegations have also hit their game for a six. UNPALATABLE However the Test series debacle must be unpalatable to the two new men, skipper Ramiz Raja and coach Mushtaq Mohammed. However Mushtaq echoed the sentiments of everyone when he said that they (Pakistan) got put by the wickets they made. How true! Watching the highlights and then the closing stages of the Test it was obvious that the wicket was an atrocious one. The batsmen were apprehensive with the ball creeping, jumping, deviating and squatting which made one wonder how come such sub-standard wick- ets are allowed to be made. There is a Sinhala saying that when one digs a grave for another he must be careful not to fall into it. That saying rang true for the Pakistanis in this instance where the wicket was concerned. Source :: The Daily News (http://www.lanka.net/lakehouse/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) PAKISTAN WIN 1ST 1-DAYER BY 9 WICKETS - Ranjan Anandappa Debutant Saleem Elahi scored his maiden one day international century (102 n.o.) as Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets to go one-up in the three match series at the Municipal Stadium, Gu- jaranwala. Arjuna Ranatunga`s second one day century (102 n.o.) paled into insignificance as Elahi bashed a weak looking Sri Lankan bowling attack to give Pakistan a much-needed tonic in the 44th over in the 50 over competition. Saleem Elahi the younger brother of Manzoor Elahi created his- tory for Pakistan in a one-day series by becoming the fourth player besides, Dennis Amiss (England), Andy Flower (Zimbabwe) and Desmond Haynes (West Indies) to score centuries on the one day debuts. Elahi along with Aamir Sohail put on 156 runs for the opening wicket off 201 balls. Claiming Sohail`s wicket was the only consolation for the Sri Lankans when he offered a catch at cov- ers to Muralitheran substituting for Arjuna Ranatunga who was off the field after 19 overs. He also becomes the only Pakistani to score a hundred on a one day debut. Saleem Elahi also had the unique feat of reaching his century with a six. From 96 he hammered Pramodya Wickremasinghe for a towering six over the bowler to reach an unbeaten 102. Elahi joined by his skipper Ramiz Raja reached the victory target of 234 with a rapid 78-run stand for the second wicket in only 65 balls. Ramiz`s contribution was an unbeaten 44 off 37 balls with 4 fours and a six. Sri Lanka`s bowling looked innocuous as two of their front line bowlers (Vaas injured) and Muralitheran (12th man). Pakistan who started their victory chase watched by a capacity crowd of around 15000 achieved their objective without much difficulty. Though Sohail (71) off 201 balls and Elahi set the ball rolling for Pakistan with a fine opening stand Sri Lanka would have put the Pakistani batsmen under some pressure if wicket keeper Romesh Kaluvitharna had not dropped a straight for- ward chance offered by Elahi when he was only 65 and the total reading 140 for no wickets. In the 30th over. Jayasuriya was the only wicket taker for Sri Lanka with 1 for 43. Roshan Mahanama led the side from the 19th over onwards dur- ing the absence of Arjuna Ranatunga. Man of the match Saleem Elahi. A typically watchful century by Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Rana- tunga which was incidentally his second in one-day internation- als saw Sri Lanka reach 233 for 5 wickets off their stipulated 50 overs. Ramiz Raja won the toss and sent Sri Lanka into bat and openers Roshan Mahanama and Sanath Jayasuriya gave a brisk start for the Lankans putting on 32 runs off 8 overs. Jayasuriya greeted Muhammed Akram who was making his first one-day interna- tional debut hitting him over the top for 4. Mahanama and Jayasuriya were laying the foundation for a substantial first wicket stand, but Mahanama after scoring 12 was run out going for a quick run when Ramiz Raja`s under-arm throw from mid on hit the stumps directly. The verdict was given by the third um- pire. Soon after Jayasuriya`s innings came to an end while trying to square cut Akram hit it straight to Basit Ali at cover point when he had scored 25. Jayasuriya had faced 21 balls and had a six and three boundaries. Sri Lanka lost their star batsman Aravinda de Silva when he flicked one to mid wicket for Saqlain Mushtaq to take the catch when he had just opened his account. When Ranatunga walked on to the wicket in the 13th over with 3 down for 48, he and Gurusinha had a big job in their hands. From 48 for 3 they took the score to 185 with a 137-run stand for the 4th wicket off 178 deliveries. Finally Gurusinha after scoring 57 going for quick runs pulled one to mid wicket and Saqlain Mushtaq accepted the catch. Kaluvitharana promoted in the batting order in the quest of looking for quick runs was run out for 6 off a direct throw from Sohail at cover point. Ranatunga approaching a well- deserved century looked as if he would run short of overs in achieving his second one day ton. But with Hashan Tillekeratne joining him he reached his 100 off the 4th ball of the last over. Ranatunga`s unbeaten 102 was made off 112 deliveries with 9 boundaries in 142 minutes. Source :: The Daily News (http://www.lanka.net/lakehouse/) Contributed by sudas (swanniar@uoguelph.ca) ====> more Pakistan elated by Elahi`s century - Qamar Ahmed OPENER Salim Elahi became the first Pakistani to score a century on his one-day international debut yesterday when he scored 102 not out in a nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first of three limited-overs internationals. The success was a fillip for Pakistan after their ignominious 2-1 defeat in the Test series. Chasing Sri Lanka`s 233 for five in 50 overs - in which captain Arjuna Ranatunga made 102 not out -Pak- istan reached the target with six of their 50 overs to spare. But play was stopped for six minutes during the Pakistan innings when police baton-charged part of the 15,000 crowd after Sri Lanka`s Pramodya Wickremasinghe was hit by an object thrown by a spectator. Elahi, 19, brother of Pakistan`s Test cricketer Manzoor Elahi, was included after regular opener Saeed Anwar failed a fitness test. He cut and drove with ferocious power, making his runs off 133 balls with seven fours and a six. Elahi, named man of the match, reached his hundred by hoisting fast bowler Wickremasinghe for six over the bowler`s head. Only England`s Dennis Amiss, West Indian Desmond Haynes and Andy Flower, of Zimbabwe, have previously made centuries on their de- but in the limited-overs game. Elahi and Aamer Sohail put Pakistan on the right road with a su- perb opening stand of 156 in 201 balls. Sohail was eventually caught at cover for 77, including eight boundaries, but Elahi continued unruffled in an unbroken 78-run partnership with his captain, Rameez Raja, who made an unbeaten 44 with four fours and a straight six off Kumara Dharmasena. Ranatunga`s century for Sri Lanka came off 112 deliveries and in- cluded nine fours. He shared a 137-run stand for the fourth wick- et with left-hander Asanka Gurusinha (57) after three wickets had fallen for 48 in the 13th over. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)