Pakistan still want ODIs against Australia

Pakistan and Australia could yet play ODIs in the UAE this year.

Pakistan has asked Australia to play three ODIs and three Twenty20s in the UAE in August and September, despite being granted ICC permission to change the series to six T20s. Cricket Australia is believed to have agreed in principle to the proposal, but is not expected to sign off on the deal until discussing it with its players, after the Australian Cricketers' Association expressed "significant concerns" about the extreme heat in the UAE at that time of year. 

The PCB was open to the idea of only T20 games but Wicket99 understands the broadcaster had objected for commercial reasons. The PCB's request for the ICC to allow a six-match T20 series due to the weather conditions was approved this week, but Pakistan considered it only a backup plan in case the ODI portion of the series could not go ahead. 

The chairmen and chief executives of both sides met during the ICC's annual conference in Kuala Lumpur and agreed in principle on a series of three ODIs and three T20s in the UAE. The PCB chairman, Zaka Ashraf, said the matches would start in the evening in order to avoid the worst of the heat.

"We had a decision with Cricket Australia officials that we'll play [three ODIs and three T20s] in the UAE in the evening," Ashraf told ESPNcricinfo. "Cricket Australia is looking at the weather as well and our broadcaster objected to the omission of ODIs. However the decision will be taken this week."

The Australian Cricketers' Association has already expressed its concerns about playing ODIs in such hot weather, whereas T20s would lessen the problem due to a later start time and shorter games. However, Pakistan insists that the conditions can be handled by starting the 50-over matches in the evening.

Cricket Australia confirmed that positive discussions had taken place in Kuala Lumpur, between Cricket Australia's chief executive James Sutherland and chairman Wally Edwards and their Pakistan counterparts. However, a spokesman said further details of the series, including the mix of matches, grounds and start times were yet to be finalised.

"They [Australian officials] have agreed in principle to a proposal that the PCB has put to us, subject to us seeing the final detail," a Cricket Australia spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. "We're expecting the final detail within the next 24 hours. Once we sign off on the final detail we're expecting a formal announcement from the PCB within the next two or three days."

Sri Lanka thrash Pakistan by 209 runs in first Test

Pakistan's Mohammad Ayub (right) walks back to the
pavilion after his dismissal as Sri Lankan players
celebrate during the fourth day of the first
Test in Galle, Sri Lanka.

GALLE (Sri Lanka): Nuwan Kulasekara and Suraj Randiv combined to vanquish Pakistan as Sri Lanka triumphed in the first Test by a massive 209 runs on Monday, their biggest win over their Asian rivals.

The tourists, set a near impossible victory target of 510, were bowled out for 300 just before stumps on the fourth day despite defiant batting from Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq, as Sri Lanka took the lead in the three-match series.

The pair kept the Sri Lankan attack at bay for three hours to add 151 for the fifth wicket, Younis making 87 and Shafiq 80, before both fell on either side of the tea interval.

Off-spinner Randiv and seamer Kulasekara grabbed three wickets each to ensure Sri Lanka ended the match with a day to spare after Pakistan appeared to be taking the fight into the final day.

Randiv finished with seven wickets in the game, but it was teammate Kumar Sangakkara who was named man-of-the-match for his unbeaten 199 in Sri Lanka's first innings.

Younis, 34, the most experienced batsman in the Pakistan side with 77 Test appearances, held the innings together during his 26th half-century in the five-day format.

Shafiq, a 26-year-old playing his 14th Test, matched his senior partner with a fluent knock that contained 13 hits to the fence.

But just when the duo appeared to have survived the entire afternoon session, Shafiq was dismissed against the run of play, edging left-arm spinner Rangana Herath to Mahela Jayawardene in the slips.

The partnership between Younis and Shafiq, who came together in the day's second over at 38-4, helped Pakistan salvage their reputation after the tourists were shot out for 100 in the first innings.

Younis, who went to tea on 81, fell in the first over with the second new ball when he edged Kulasekara to wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene.

Seamer Nuwan Pradeep, playing his second Test, bagged his maiden Test wicket by trapping debutant Mohammad Ayub leg-before for 22 to send Pakistan reeling at 243-7.

Randiv claimed the last three wickets to give Sri Lanka their third win in the last five Tests, a turnaround in form following a dip after the retirement of legendary offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan in 2010.

Pakistan lost nightwatchman Saeed Ajmal in the day's second over, run out by a direct throw from the covers by Suraj Randiv.

Younis earned a reprieve on nine when Tillakaratne Dilshan picked up a low catch at mid-off, but television replays proved inconclusive whether the catch had been taken cleanly.

The second Test starts at the Sinhalese sports club in Colombo on June 30. The third match will be played in Pallekele from July 8.

Sri Lanka complete massive victory

Asad Shafiq made a solid half-century.

For a year and a half after Muttiah Muralitharan's retirement, every match Sri Lanka played was accompanied by questions about their ability to be a top Test nation in the absence of the game's greatest wicket-taker. Those questions will be less frequent after Sri Lanka completed their third Test victory in five matches, and their largest win over Pakistan on the fourth day in Galle. The result also snapped Pakistan's winning streak, which included a 3-0 blanking of world No. 1 England, at five Tests.

It wasn't one-way traffic on Monday, as it had been on the three previous days as Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan defied Sri Lanka for nearly two sessions. Younis gave another demonstration of his fourth-innings mastery, while Shafiq once again showed his appetite for a scrap, as he had in his two previous Tests, against England. Their resistance stretched the game to the final minutes of the fourth day, but Sri Lanka were never in any serious danger, remaining firmly in control all through.

Pakistan's only casualty in the morning was the nightwatchman Saeed Ajmal, run-out in the second over of the day after a direct hit by Suraj Randiv from cover. An early finish to the game looked on the cards when Younis started to walk off after seemingly holing out to mid-off, but there was some doubt over whether Tillakaratne Dilshan had got his fingers under the ball as he took a low catch. It was hard to tell from the replays, and Younis was given the benefit of the doubt.

The only other clear-cut chance in the session for Pakistan was when Kumar Sangakkara put down a tough catch at midwicket off Shafiq ten minutes before lunch. There were a few mild lbw appeals, and Shafiq's french-cut for four early in his innings, but for the most part, Younis and Shafiq were more comfortable than any other Pakistan pair has been this match.

They didn't go into a defensive shell, looking to score even though the target was well out of sight. Younis used the sweep, mostly the conventional version but on one occasion the reverse as well. Shafiq capitalised on the deliveries bowled on his pads, and also pulled out some hard-hit lofted shots as Sri Lanka's bowlers were made to wait for a breakthrough longer than they have had all match.

The pattern continued after lunch as well, as the pair negated the generally slow spin easily. Both batsmen confidently used their feet against spin, and were quick to put away the loose deliveries. Sri Lanka's fast bowlers weren't at their best, not testing the batsmen enough and being inconsistent with their lines, while the spinners patiently plugged away. The slow bowlers managed to find a few edges which didn't carry to slip on several occasions.

As the session progressed, it seemed Sri Lanka's best hope of a wicket would be once the new ball was taken, but Herath got one to spin off the pitch with pace, and Shafiq nicked it through to slip, via the wicketkeeper's gloves, to fall for 80.

Younis went on to become the first Pakistan batsman to complete 1000 runs in the fourth innings, but he couldn't become the first man to score five centuries in the fourth innings of a Test. Sri Lanka hadn't needed to wait for the second new ball to break the Younis-Shafiq stand but when they did take it, they got the big wicket of Younis in the very first over. Nuwan Kulasekara, who has been a huge threat with the new ball, got one delivery to hold its line, and not dip in as his deliveries usually do, causing a faint Younis nick to the keeper.

With those two strikes, Sri Lanka were in sniffing distance of a win. Debutant Mohammad Ayub, the last of the specialist batsmen, hung around for an hour and a half before becoming fast bowler's Nuwan Pradeep first Test victim.

In a disappointing match for Pakistan, one of the bright spots for them was the wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal. Not only was he competent behind the stumps, he showed promise with the bat as well, besides conveying a sense of enjoying the game. He battled for an unbeaten 40, shielding the tail from the strike as much as he could, but couldn't take the game into a fifth day as Sri Lanka's spinners completed the job a few minutes before stumps.

Looked to tie the batsmen down - Randiv

Suraj Randiv: "I am trying to bowl all six balls
in one spot."

Offspinner Suraj Randiv's four wickets in Pakistan's first innings in Galle have set the match up nicely for Sri Lanka; the plan, Randiv said, was to keep the Pakistan batsmen in check.

"We have been trying to bowl a good length and line because, normally, Pakistanis don't like to be tied down," Randiv said at the end of the third day's play. "Especially in the longer games they want to hit boundaries, so we tried to block the boundaries and bowl good line and length.

"With my height I don't think I need to bother about the flight, what is important is my line and lengths, which I am trying to improve all the time. I am trying to bowl all six balls in one spot, and then try to add a little variation as well."

Playing with Sri Lanka's senior spinner, Rangana Herath, Randiv said, has taught him a lot. "Herath is our No. 1 spinner. With him, we [the other spinners] discuss a lot of things like strategy and the weak points of batsmen, and try to use [his advice] in matches."

Randiv had spent much of the IPL 2012 on the sidelines, not getting a game for his franchise, Chennai Super Kings. He had used the spare time to fine-tune his bowling in the nets, he said. "Before I left for the IPL, I had trained with my spin-bowling coach, Piyal Wijetunga, for two days. After the England Tests [in March-April, during which Randiv took seven wickets in four innings], there were some shortcomings in my bowling, so I worked with my coach and started with the basics.

"My coach told me what I should do to regain my normal rhythm. I kept that in mind, and although I didn't get an opportunity to play any IPL matches I had the time to practice what my coach had told me. So I don't think my time at the IPL was wasted."

Australia bowl after winning toss

Brett Lee bowled Ireland captain William Porterfield with the first ball of the match.

Brett Lee took two wickets in his first three deliveries and a fantastic catch from Michael Clarke helped Australia further reduce Ireland to 36 for 3 before the rain returned to disrupt the one-off ODI between the two sides at Stormont in Belfast.

Australia's captain, Clarke, won the toss and sent Ireland in to bat after a 45-minute delay to the scheduled start. The ground had recovered well from heavy pre-match rain, allowing the match to get underway at 11.30am local time, without a reduction on the allotted 50 overs a side.

The tourists made four changes from the team that accounted for Leicestershire in their opening match of the tour, a minor muscle strain ruling out George Bailey and allowing Peter Forrest to come in. The pace attack was reshuffled entirely, Lee, Pat Cummins and Ben Hilfenhaus for Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson and Clint McKay.

Ireland opened up with Paul Stirling and Will Porterfield at the top of the order, the same combination that gave Australia a fright the last time these two sides met in 2010, while Tim Murtagh was handed an expected debut.

Ireland 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Will Porterfield (capt), 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Niall O'Brien (wk), 5 Gary Wilson, 6 Kevin O'Brien, 7 Alex Cusack, 8 John Mooney, 9 Trent Johnston, 10 George Dockrell, 11 Tim Murtagh.

Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Matthew Wade (wk), 3 Shane Watson, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 David Hussey, 6 Peter Forrest, 7 Steve Smith, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Xavier Doherty.