***Official*** Pakistan v Sri Lanka in UAE 2013/14

[Prince EWS]

btw, I wasn't watching last night - did anyone see Sanga's over? Sounded rubbish on cricinfo

Yeah he bowls pies.

Bit of a disadvantage in picking so many wicket keepers I suppose is that none of them can bowl. They wanted two spinners operating which ruled out the quicks and Mathews. Mahela actually can bowl both offies and meds to a semi-reasonable standard but he split the webbing on his right hand so he wasn't going to bowl and that just left the four wicket keepers.

 

[Maximas]

Great effort from the middle to lower order from Pakistan, good fight from a line-up I didn't think had it in them. Also another landmark moment for the Sri Lankan quicks, this time they showed discipline and persistence to slowly chomp through the order on a flat deck, Lakmal got the best reward this time but Pradeep's early breakthroughs and Eranga's wickets were also very important, Herath struggled a bit against good players of spin with little help from the deck, Ajmal's respective struggles would suggest it's tough to bowl spin in this series, SL shouldn't have trouble with the chase, a good chance for Karunaratne to play with some freedom

 

[smash84]

should be a walk in the park for SL unless rain interferes

 

[Maximas]

SL better be pretty damn sure it won't rain today, if the match gets called off when they are 0/80 off 40 overs I'll never forgive them

 

[Maximas]

Andrew's ferreted out that it's started to rain in Sharjah and would be on its way to Dubai around 1pm

uh oh

 

[Jono]

Yeah they really should get a move on.

 

[Maximas]

Comfortable chase as predicted, bright and sunny ATM according to cricinfo

 

[Cricketismylife]

K Silva looks the real deal. Question marks over Karunaratne, has a decent array of shots and looks stylish but he's still careless and loose.

 

[YorksLanka]

well done to Sri Lanka on a clinical win, but also well played to our Pakistani brothers too. I am really pleased that our two young openers are starting to develop into a decent opening pair for tests and hope that they get a decent run. The wickets in England will pose a different test of their skills but we need to put faith in them. I am also very pleased with our fast bowlers who again are maturing into being decent(not world class but fast bowling has never been our strength), all we want is to have three quicks who can compete and give our batsmen something to go at..Hopefully we can step on from here and win the next match..good luck Lanka

 

[WindieWeathers]

Honestly i was very surprised to see Pakistan get skittled out by the sri-lankan PACERS of all people...it doesn't seem like Pakistan cricket is in a good place right now. The two best batsmen were once again Younis and Ul-haq...both are getting on in age now sow when they are gone lord knows whats gonna happen. Meanwhile Ajmal appears to be slowing down a great deal now too...which isn'ta surprise considering he's 36...Khan is doing great and next year one of the best pace talents i've ever seen (Ammir) may return so that should be a big bonus i guess...but i'm surprised at how easily Sri-lanka won i must say.

 

[Prince EWS]

Honestly i was very surprised to see Pakistan get skittled out by the sri-lankan PACERS of all people...it doesn't seem like Pakistan cricket is in a good place right now. The two best batsmen were once again Younis and Ul-haq...both are getting on in age now sow when they are gone lord knows whats gonna happen. Meanwhile Ajmal appears to be slowing down a great deal now too...which isn'ta surprise considering he's 36...Khan is doing great and next year one of the best pace talents i've ever seen (Ammir) may return so that should be a big bonus i guess...but i'm surprised at how easily Sri-lanka won i must say.

A bit like the West Indies in a few ways - ie. they have a few blokes who look really good and/or do really well domestically who aren't getting picked for no apparent reason.

The selection of their batting lineup has been poor for quite a while now and Ajmal has bailed them repeatedly. They were at a bit of a crossroads before this series IMO - win comfortably and they put their hands up a team that could challenge the top three in the short-medium term, struggle yet again to beat lower-ranked opponents and fall back into the pack again. Even if they do tie the series at Sharjah with a massive win I think this series has been a pretty big disappointment for them overall.

 

[smash84]

extremely disappointed by this series for sure.

Thankfully Dav Whatmore will leave after this series

 

[Energetic]

Sri Lanka will be facing Bangladesh next. Now I'm worried

 

[Maximas]

Sri Lanka will be facing Bangladesh next. Now I'm worried

That remains to be seen, SL officials currently inspecting before the tour goes ahead, looks fairly likely though.

Great win, Kaushal is such a good find, Karunaratne is still a bit loose but he is a good partner for Kaushal being left handed and a little more aggressive, interesting to note that Karunaratne's three best scores in test cricket have all come in the second dig if I'm not mistaken.

The best thing about the current fast bowling trio is that they are all 25-27, meaning they are past the constantly breaking down stage and should be able to play a lot of games and bowl a lot of overs together, continuing to develop in a variety of conditions hopefully

 

[YorksLanka]

i have to add that Karunaratne played very well the last time SL toured here in England ( and won ODI's 5-0 btw), he seems to be one of the better players of the swinging ball..time will tell but i hope he gets a fair chance..

 

[Migara]

The biggest plus point is Kaushal Silva. Lakmal done well too.

 

[Jassy]

So Pakistan's streak of not having won a test series in 2 years will extend up to at least October when they play Australia. Sad to see they've deteriorated so badly. Sri Lanka played well credit to them but pretty much half the Pakistani side is not test class and I am being generous.

 

[smash84]

awta......

if junaid and ajmal don't fire, we are toothless in bowling

if misbah and younis don't do anything we barely make 150. That is the side that we are.

 

[Eds]

awta......

if junaid and ajmal don't fire, we are toothless in bowling

if misbah and younis don't do anything we barely make 150. That is the side that we are.

If your best four players don't play well, your team doesn't play well? Shocker!

Stick an in-form Rehman into the lineup, and suddenly it's the best spin attack in the world, ably supported by an excellent seamer. Amir comes back next year and he's only young, therefore still has a big chance to make an impact, and suddenly it's one of the best bowling attacks in the world. Be happy.

 

[hendrix]

If your best four players don't play well, your team doesn't play well? Shocker!

nah genuinely can't expect anything from any batsman not named Younus or Misbah. That's pretty frustrating.