Sri Lanka—Pakistan final

By M. Naushad Amit
The final round robin match of the Under 19 Triangular Series will be worked off today between England and Pakistan at SSC grounds. The outcome of today’s match will have no effect as Sri Lanka and Pakistan have already booked their places to play in Friday’s final at NCC. After the first round Sri Lanka and Pakistan finished on top of the points table with bonus points. Though all three teams finished equally with a win each, England failed to gain a bonus point in the match they won with Pakistan. Today’s match will be a very good practise session for both teams.

Sri Lanka has found it hard to cope with the reigning champions. Though England professes to be more professional than the Pakistanis, they have lost both their round robin matches against the hosts. Sri Lanka may have a ray of hope for Friday’s final with their top order batsmen coming back to form. Unlike the English bowling attack, Pakistan has a solid opening pair that can be a great threat to any team. This was evident in all the matches they have played. This dangerous pair has managed to send back the first five batsmen of Sri Lanka and England before reaching the 50-mark.

In the first outing Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by a gap of 83 runs to win an extra point. Pakistan lost in the second match against England by a mere 16 runs, preventing the winners from getting the most crucial bonus point which cost them a lot. The hosts raced to the winning target England set in 36.4 overs to grab their bonus point in the third match. The second round was almost a repeat, as in the first, when Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by nine wickets with 15 overs to spare. Sri Lanka, playing against England in their vital match, set a huge target of 312 in 50 overs and bowled out the English juniors in less than 35 overs for a paltry 154 runs. Sri Lanka and Pakistan are equally placed with 10 points each. England has only got 4 points of their win. Even if England wins today’s match with a bonus point they will fail to go through to the final as they will finish the table with 9 points. If Sri Lanka is to win the final match the opening pair and the batsmen following through will have to give a solid start as in the games against England. With the Pakistanis all round attack things are never going to be easy for the hosts.