BOOM BOOM Afridi Shines As Pakistan Beat Sri Lanka

Pakistan 172 for 5 (Afridi 50, Nazir 40) beat Sri Lanka 120 (Sangakkara 38, Ajmal 3-18, Naved 3-19) by 52 runs Pakistan will want to take the Premadasa Stadium with them wherever they go. After groping in the dark for the better part of the tour, they finally struck gold when they landed here for the last two one-dayers and tonight they signed off in style with a comprehensive 52-run win in the one-off Twenty20 game. It was touted as a rematch of the World Twenty20 final in June but Sri Lanka failed to even the score. Their nemesis at Lord's - Shahid Afridi - stood in their way again with an exact 50, a tight spell and a run-out on his debut as Pakistan captain.

Though Afridi deserved a large portion of credit, the win was sealed by a collective effort from his team. After losing a wicket off the first ball, Imran Nazir gave the early impetus with an aggressive 40, Umar Akmal and Afridi put on a steady 66 in the middle overs and Naved-ul-Hasan and Saeed Ajmal derailed Sri Lanka's chase.

Pakistan's strategy was clear from the outset - step out and whack. The difficulties the home batsmen faced under lights in the two ODIs didn't deter Pakistan's top order as they regularly went down the track to smother the slightest hint of seam movement. Kamran Akmal's first-ball dismissal turned out to be no more than a scare as Pakistan stuck to their gameplan.

Afridi wasn't very convincing at the start of his innings, slashing and swishing at deliveries far too early. He also survived a very confident shout for lbw off Muttiah Muralitharan, with the ball appearing to turn enough to clip the leg stump. As he got his eye in, though, the shots flew off his bat. He chipped down the track to Murali and carved them inside out over extra cover but the shot of the evening was a stylish one-legged whip off Malinga that cleared the deep midwicket boundary.

There was a bit of drama in between when he claimed an overthrow after the throw from Mahela Jayawardene deflected off his body. Tempers flared for a few seconds but, unlike what happened between Younis Khan and Kumar Sangakkara in the fifth ODI, the issue was quickly settled.

Umar too carried on from where he left off in the one-dayers, using his feet to clear the infield. His stand with Afridi yielded 66 in a little more than seven overs but he fell off a tame top edge while attempting a cheeky paddle off Angelo Mathews.

Afridi fell shortly after getting to his third consecutive fifty in Twenty20s, failing to clear Kulasekara at long-off. Abdul Razzaq then finished the innings with a cameo and Pakistan appeared at that stage that they had enough to push the Sri Lankans once more.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Udawatte began the chase at a rate of nearly ten an over. Jayasuriya entertained in typical fashion with his trademark flicks but failed to put away a short delivery off Mohammad Aamer, miscuing him to fine leg. Udawatte failed to make the most of his recall, trapped lbw off Naved-ul-Hasan though he was a trifle unlucky as the ball pitched fractionally outside leg.

The middle order's failure to contribute hurt them once more. Sangakkara and Jayawardene entertained, albeit briefly, with almost nonchalant shots over the ropes but they failed to put together that one big partnership to nail the chase. The pressure was on because the boundaries were few and far between. Sri Lanka managed just six fours, while Pakistan hit 19.

Afridi rushed through his overs, denying the batsmen too much room. When Jayawardene backed away to push the ball into the gaps, Afridi slipped in the googly and cramped him up. He conceded 21 runs and bagged the wicket of Chamara Kapugedera, well caught at midwicket by Naved.

The most incisive bowler was Ajmal, who bagged three wickets. In contrast to Afridi, he was much slower through the air, making the batsmen reach out for their strokes. Their attempts to take out their frustrations on him led to tame dismissals, like Sangakkara's, sweeping against the turn.

With the specialists gone, Sri Lanka's last hopes rested on Angelo Mathews but he too was sent scampering back by a direct hit from Afridi.

In the end, Sri Lanka's defeat will be analysed through one critical statistic. While Pakistan's fourth wicket added 66, Sri Lanka's last eight managed only 49.

Aamer And Rana Shine As Pakistan Beat Sri Lanka

Pakistan 279 for 8 (Younis 76, Misbah 73*) beat Sri Lanka 147 (Aamer 4-28, Naved 4-44) by 132 runs

A hostile Mohammad Aamer and an inconsistent-but-smart Naved-ul-Hasan sent Sri Lanka crashing to what was very nearly their worst-ever ODI defeat at home. Naved earlier gave Pakistan's total a boost with hefty hitting in the final overs, after Pakistan had threatened to let half-centuries from Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq go to waste. Sri Lanka however, took the series having already won the first three matches.

This was also the 10th straight time that a side batting first won at the R Premadasa Stadium. It can't be ascertained if it was just the conditions, but the Pakistan pace bowlers were way better than their Sri Lankan counterparts. Aamer and Naved got more movement, and demonstrated better control and variation.

Aamer set the agenda with the first ball, a brute that injured Upul Tharanga's middle finger. Even if the finger wasn't broken, the spirit was as he played and missed at an away-swinger next. The third ball, short and climbing into Tharanga, duly produced the edge. Even before the returning Sanath Jayasuriya could cause any damage, Naved flummoxed him with a superb slower delivery, putting the onus squarely on Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

They added 35 in 37 deliveries, targeting Naved, before the veteran bowler fooled Sangakkara too with a slower one. Even before Sri Lanka could recover from that blow, Jayawardene edged an angling delivery from Aamer, finishing the match - at 58 for 4 - for all practical purposes.

Aamer and Naved, though, proceeded to take out whatever life remained in the contest. Aamer did away with Chamara Kapugedera and Angelo Mathews in his next two overs, while Naved came back to take out Nuwan Kaulasekara and Dammika Prasad. Kulasekara's dismissal was a splendid effort by Misbah, diving forward at first slip, giving him his third catch of the innings. Aamer finished with a career-best effort and Naved reached 100 wickets in ODIs.

Thilina Kandamby and Malinga Bandara delayed the inevitable, but the record for the highest successful chase at the Premadasa Stadium never really came under threat. That Pakistan got to that total was largely due to the responsible fifties from Younis and Misbah.

After an 83-run stand between Younis and Misbah for the fourth wicket, Pakistan lost three quick wickets, making them reassess the total they aimed for, but Naved's late hitting made sure they felt confident going into the defence.

Throughout their disastrous tour Younis has spoken about the importance of partnerships. Today he was involved in three valuable ones. The first one started after the first ball of the match, when umpire Gamini Silva welcomed back Nuwan Kulasekara by missing a thick inside edge from Kamran Akmal, and giving Sri Lanka a bonus wicket.

Younis was sedate to begin with, enjoying a ferocious start from Iman Nazir from the other end. Nazir, playing his second match since his comeback from the ICL, raced to 35 from 21 balls in the first seven overs, as Prasad's first three overs went for 30. Sangakkara then took a gamble, bringing on Mendis in the eighth over. The Pakistan batsmen have been exceptional in playing Mendis, looking to play him straight as often as possible, but Nazir went to turn the second ball he faced from him to midwicket, paying the price as he was trapped plumb in front.

Younis found the perfect partner in Mohammad Yousuf, who did the majority of the scoring in the 68-run third-wicket partnership. But by the time Yousuf fell for 43, Younis looked set to convert the slow start.

Younis, 13 off 39 at one stage, had started accelerating and along with Misbah, who also started fluently, Younis threatened to take Pakistan past 300. It was a typical Younis knock - a slow start, an increase in the number of singles and doubles in the middle portions, and only a few boundaries. Without a flurry of hits to the fence, Younis got 37 off the next 32 balls he faced, to reach his second fifty in a row.

If Younis was playing an ideal middle-order ODI innings, Misbah at the other end started to mirror him, rotating the strike with ease. His first boundary came off the 25th ball, but he had reached 19 by then. He looked to dominate against the spinners, Jayasuriya and Bandara, getting three boundaries, and by the time the ball was changed after 34 overs, Pakistan had reached 186 for 3. With the slightly newer ball, Sangakkara brought back Prasad.

Younis' fall to a yorker from Prasad was followed by two more quick wickets, at which point Misbah took control and set himself to bat through the innings. He got good support from Naved, who hit two huge sixes and a boundary in the batting Powerplay, also the last five overs of the innings. Naved scored 33 off 29, Pakistan got 46 in the last five, and Misbah finished with an unbeaten 73.

Jayawardene drives Sri Lanka to series win

Sri Lanka 289 for 4 (Jayawardene 123, Tharanga 76) beat Pakistan 288 for 8 (Umar Akmal 66, Kamran Akmal 45) by six wickets

The morning may have belonged to the Akmal brothers and Pakistan, but it was all Sri Lanka in the afternoon, with an imperious century from Mahela Jayawardene central to a commanding six-wicket victory which clinched the series with two games to spare. The pursuit of 289 was made to look like child's play as Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga put on 202 for the first wicket, and not even a brief wobble thereafter could stop Sri Lanka's inexorable progress. Jayawardene's 123, his first hundred since 2007, took only 108 balls, and even cramps failed to curtail the boundary barrage as the bowlers were treated with disdain.

Jayawardene's driving down the ground, and over cover, was majestic, and any shortness in length was ruthlessly punished by the most elegant of pull shots. But for a huge leg-before shout from Shahid Afridi which he survived - the umpire suspecting a bottom edge - Jayawardene made few mistakes, finding the boundaries with elan as the bowling started to fall apart. There was even a cheeky reverse-sweep for four off Saeed Ajmal, as he cruised to his century from only 91 balls.

Tharanga had slowed after getting to his own half-century from 55 balls, content to work the ball around, but there was more than a measure of misfortune about his dismissal, with the Ajmal delivery clearly striking him outside the line of off stump. When Mahela followed, after a tired miscue to cover, Pakistan scented opportunity. And the feel-good factor increased when Thilan Samaraweera played one back to Ajmal off the leading edge.

But Sri Lanka weren't about to squander such a start. Thilina Kandamby and Kumar Sangakkara wrested the initiative back with a slew of boundaries, with Abdul Razzaq proving especially disappointing. Kandamby fell to Mohammad Aamer shortly before victory was clinched, but it was all too easy in the end.

The hard work had been done much earlier, with Tharanga and Jayawardene catching the new-ball bowlers cold. Tharanga led the way with some wonderfully fluid drives through cover, and Jayawardene soon impressed his class on proceedings with some delightful shots in the V. Razzaq could do nothing to control the runs, and when Younis Khan turned to Naved-ul-Hasan, replacing Umar Gul and playing his first match in two-and-a-half years, there was no ebb to the flow.

The pair played every shot in the book, from the paddle sweep, to the muscled heave over midwicket, but it was the drives threaded through the gaps that really caught the eye. Afridi, Pakistan's most consistent one-day bowler in recent times, was also treated with scant respect as the most imposing of platforms was built for the final surge.

Pakistan had done pretty well in that respect earlier in the day, with Umar Akmal carrying on where his brother, Kamran, left off. With Younis, Afridi, Razzaq and Naved contributing meaningful cameos, Pakistan finally had a total that could be defended.

It had started badly, with Nasir Jamshed guiding a Thilan Thushara delivery into the hands of slip, but Kamran and Younis quickly set about restoring parity. Neither Nuwan Kulasekara nor Thushara was allowed to settle, as both men picked the gaps and crashed the ball with impunity. After 56 came from the opening Powerplay, Sangakkara opted for the bustling pace of Dilhara Fernando and the medium pace of Angelo Mathews. And it was Mathews who delivered the breakthrough, tempting Kamran into one off-side flail too many. He had made 45 from 46 balls.

Shoaib Malik was undone by a superb lifter from Fernando, and when Younis succumbed to Thushara's throwing arm while risking a single to mid-on, Pakistan had slumped from 80 for 1 to 107 for 4. Fawad Alam then dawdled to 13 from 33 balls, and with Umar taking time to assess the bowlers, it was left to Afridi to inject urgency into the innings.

Both the impressive Mathews and Muttiah Muralitharan were targeted as Afridi breezed to 32 from 19 balls. But it was Murali who had the last laugh, and a few words, as Afridi missed a straighter one. And the edge on the feel then intensified as Umar moved up a gear, smacking four and a huge straight six off Murali after compiling a maiden half-century from just 59 balls. Murali got his man, going for an encore and though more sweet nothings were exchanged, this was one tussle that the spin maestro hadn't won.

Thanks to Jayawardene and Tharanga though, Sri Lanka won the only contest that mattered.

No emotion over Flintoff – Strauss

England will take the emotion out of the decision over whether the injured Andrew Flintoff plays in what could be the Ashes-deciding Test at Headingley from Friday. Flintoff will bowl for the first time since the end of the third game at training today and wants to wait until the morning of the game to determine if his right knee is strong enough to face Australia.

The hosts, who have a 14-man squad and a 1-0 lead, are also happy to delay their decision, but the captain Andrew Strauss said Flintoff would not be the only person having a say. Flintoff is a mighty figure to the team and the country, but Strauss will not be sentimental.

"We're going to have to [take the emotion out]," Strauss said. "It's the fourth Test of an Ashes series, we're close to the finish line and although we're all desperate for him to play, we need to be realistic enough to realise that if he's not fit then he shouldn't play."

Flintoff was England's main man on the final day at Lord's when he took five wickets to guide them to victory, but his discomfort seemed to increase as the third Test wore on. He scored a muscular 74 in the side's only innings at Edgbaston and did not make a breakthrough in 30 overs.

Strauss said a range of views would be canvassed on Flintoff's health, but the decision is out of the allrounder's hands. "Judging whether he's fit or not comes down to the medical team," he said. "The player himself has a view, and a little bit [goes] on what the coach and myself have seen. It's a multitude of factors. Fred's not the only one we'll listen to."

England's inflated outfit includes the batsman Jonathan Trott and bowlers Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Harmison, whose chances of playing improve considerably if Flintoff is ruled out. "We've covered all bases with the squad we've picked," Strauss said. "We will have to wait to see how Fred is. In a way there are potentially hard decisions to make."

By early next week Strauss could be an Ashes-winning captain and he told his players they would have to deal with the extra demands at Headingley. They will not be employing a cautious approach even though the pitch at The Oval, the venue for the final match, is likely to favour another stalemate.

"Coming here expecting there to be a draw, or hoping to be a draw, is the wrong way to go," he said. "It's not the way we're looking to approach it, we're looking to win the game and in doing so win the Ashes. It's a massive Test and, as always is the case in an Ashes series, the closer you get to the finish, it becomes more dramatic and the pressure and expectation rise a level".