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Pakistan ‘A’ batsman M. Ul-Haq sweeps one on his way to a match saving 91against Sri Lanka ‘A’ in the first unofficial test at the Dambulla International Cricket Stadium. - (Photo by Eranga Jayawardene)

Dhammika Ratnaweera from Dambulla
Misbah-Ul-Haq’s fighting 91 with 13 fours and a six saw Pakistan ‘A’ save the first unofficial Test against Sri Lanka ‘A’ at the Dambulla international cricket stadium Saturday.

Pakistan set 214 runs to win in 69 overs were badly placed at 28 for 4 when Ul-Haq came to the wicket and joined his skipper Hasan Raza in a fifth wicket stand of 43 runs before Raza went for 20 with the total on 98 for 7.

But Haq stuck to his guns and put on 34 invaluable runs for the eighth wicket with Shabbir Ahmed [21]. Fazil then joined Haq and defied the Lankan attack further for almost 90 minutes in facing 25 overs before Haq who richly deserved a century went in the 13th mandatory over caught by skipper Samaraweera at slip off Weerakoon. The last pair Fazil and Kenaria then defied the Lankan bowlers to save their side from defeat.

Samaraweera who finished with 6 for 55 in the second innings ended with a match bag of 10 for 92.

T. Samaraweera not out 20, S. Chandana ct. & b Kenaria 0, J. Weerakoon c Ul-Haq b Kenaria 12, A. Ganegama c Umar b Fazil 7; P. Perera c I. Farhat b Arafat 1.

Bowling: Fazil 23-3-63-3, Arafat 20.1-6-35-3, Kenaria, 34-12-64-4, Umar 1-0-11-0, Abbas 7-0-22-0, I. Farhat 3-0-10-0.

I. Farhat lbw b Samaraweera 12, I. Umar c Chandana b Samaraweera 6; F. Naved c Chandana b Perera 0, H. Raza c Fernando b Samaraweera 21, Q. Abbas c Sangakkara b Samaraweera 0, M. Ul-Haq c Samaraweera b Weerakoon 91, H. Farhat c Silva b Samaraweera 11, Y. Arafat c Fernando b Samaraweera 1, S. Ahmed c. Samaraweera b Chandana 21; I. Fazil not out 6, D. Kenaira not out 3.

Bowling: Perera 10-2-33-1; Ganegama 3-1-10-0; Samaraweera 23-8-55-6; Weerakoon 24.2-7-61-1; Chandana 9-2-18-1.