Pakistan's young brigade rattles Sri Lanka

Galle: You would have thought by now that Sri Lanka’s selectors would have sorted out their story over the Chaminda Vaas issue. And at the start of a Test series as well.

Amid the backdrop of the Galle Fort and Pakistan left groping in their first innings at fifteen for two, in reply to Sri Lanka’s 292, the island’s national selectors were struggling to keep some vestiges of credibility. It is all quite embarrassing taking the edge off what has been an average day’s play.

But following the typical example of some of the island’s whacky politicians, it seems there are crossed wires as well as some mischiefmaking going on in Sri Lanka Cricket circles. Just who is at fault with the Vaas story is yet to be sorted out; if it ever will.

Convener of selectors Ashantha de Mel says one thing, Vaas gives his side of the story, which refutes De Mel’s version, and Kumar Sangakkara offers another view. De Mel says Vaas told him his ‘Test playing days are over.’

“Not so,’ says the left arm tidy swing and seam bowler with 110 Test caps and 354 wickets. As the accusations fly, he says that didn’t speak to De Mel.

Sangakkara chips on with the comment of how he talked to Vaas on a “one to one” basis before last month’s ICC World Twenty/20 in England. “He still has a role to play in our side. We just have to work out in which format he is going to make the biggest contribution,” Sri Lanka’s new captain said.

Yet Vaas is adamant, despite his Test career is possibly winding down after 15 years, he wants to be around to play in the next World Cup when he will be 37 and the event is staged in South Asia –minus trouble Pakistan. But would also like to be considered as a Test bowler.

But as the claims and counter claims swirled late afternoon in this port city and at a venue devastated four and a half years ago by the December 26 tsunami, De Mel at least managed to get one thing right. He recalled the 27-year-old left-hand opening batsman Tharanga Paranavithana who top-scored with an obdurate innings of 72, and this as Sri Lanka eked out a first innings total of 292: possibly 30 to 40 runs more than they should have put on the board as a result of all too often sloppy, featureless fielding.

As the rest of the Sri Lanka top-order crumbled to the spicy pace and seam of the Pakistan bowlers, headed by 17-year-old left-arm debutant Mohammad Aamer, Paranavithana held the innings together. His batting was as solid as the dependable fort wall, whose battlements held any number of spectators during the day.

Dropped early on and given a reprieve when on 60, off an inside edge by Australian Umpire Daryl Harper, Paranavithana absorbed all the early pressure and displayed class and talent that had been unfairly questioned. In the process, he put together his highest Test innings, notable for its driving in front of the wicket. His previous best had been 21, also against Pakistan in the Test series that was abandoned after the 3/3 Taliban terrorist attack on Lahore, but the left-hander at least managed to give the innings the sort foundation needed to survive several collapses during the afternoon.

It became a joke how last year, the A Team coach, Chandika Haturasinghe, now masquerading under the mysterious title of shadow coach, rejected Paranavithana’s credentials because he was pushing his own agenda in the Colombo club buddy-buddy system.

It was at De Mel’s insistence that the left-hander be selected and when the events surrounding the argument involving Paranavithana were exposed, Haturasinghe’s friends tried to make out he was unfairly attacked in the story. Unfortunately, his credentials have become smeared through this episode.

Sri Lanka, asked to bat first by Younis Khan, were in trouble in the first six overs with Malinda Warnapura and Sangakkara falling victim to Aamer and it was left to Paranavithana and Mahela Jayawardene to repair the damage. Yet Jayawardene was fortunate that clumsy glovework by Kamran Akmal allowed him to escape when he was still to put a run on the board,

At least Akmal made up for the blemish with five dismissals - four catches and a stumping that ended off the Sri Lanka innings when he stumped Ajantha Mendis, while there was some entertaining batting down the order. Tillekeratne Dilshan tried to inject to some urgency into the runrate as he flung the bat around and debutant Angelo Matthews put together an interesting 42 off 57 balls, but was hardly anything that suggests, as some locals would have you believe that he is the next Andrew Flintoff. We will have to wait until the end of the series before claims as this can be evaluated.

He was, anyway out to a schoolboy type shot when attempting a pull off a lifter from Umar Gul and from that point, Pakistan, who had applied pressure throughout the day, began to lose control of the innings as the last four wickets added 98 runs through careless fielding.

Making it that extra difficult for the visitors was the bowling of Nuwan Kalusekara and Thilan Thushara Mirando who collected a wicket apiece and swung the ball to the extent that Salman Butt won’t be in a hurry to pad up to such as Kalusekara again. A sharply delivered swinging ball cut back and left him with a duck next to his name on the scoreboard

With the pitch looking a good one to bat on, and some big names in the Pakistan side yet to bat, Sri Lanka could be in for some hard work on day two.