Cricket-Pakistan's Misbah supports England comeback in Sri Lanka

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who engineered a 3-0 test whitewash of England earlier this year, has backed the world's top-ranked side to bounce back in Sri Lanka because of the strength of their bowlers.
After losing all three tests to Pakistan in the UAE, Andrew Strauss and his men were also humbled by Sri Lanka in their opening test last week and need a quick reaction for the second test starting in Colombo on Tuesday.
"England has a top class bowling attack and when you have quality bowlers at your disposal you can always make a strong comeback in any conditions," Misbah told Reuters in an interview.
"The pitches in Dubai when we played them were more difficult for batting. The pitches are better in Sri Lanka so England can come back.
"They lost to Sri Lanka in one session. They need to focus on the test session by session. When we played them it was a session-to-session battle for us because we knew they were a dangerous side and their bowlers were very good."
England's main downfall has been their batsmen's inability to play spin effectively.
"They are competent against spinners in England but they struggle due to the different conditions they find in the subcontinent or recently in UAE," Misbah added.
"The reason is that their batsmen play in the Asian region only after long gaps."
The Pakistan captain dismissed suggestions that England did not deserve their number one test status and gave his support to the current ranking system employed by the International Cricket Council.
"They became the number one test side after playing well not only at home but in Australia and other countries. But they are in danger of losing their number one ranking if they don't comeback in Sri Lanka," Misbah said.
"I think the system is fair and objective. It takes into consideration home and away matches. But for a country like Pakistan, it becomes difficult to improve our ranking because we haven't played at home since 2009."

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Cricket: Jayawardene thwarts England in first Test

Sri Lanka: Skipper Mahela Jayawardene crafted a classy century to steer Sri Lanka out of trouble on the opening day of the first Test against England in Galle on Monday.


Jayawardene hit an unbeaten 168 as the hosts recovered from a disastrous 15-3 by the fourth over to move to 289-8 by stumps at a Galle International Stadium packed with some 8,000 English supporters.


Fast bowler James Anderson claimed two wickets off successive balls in his second over and new-ball partner Stuart Broad chipped in with the third after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.


Jayawardene retrieved the situation by adding 52 for the fourth wicket with Thilan Samaraweera (20) and 61 for the fifth with young batsman Dinesh Chandimal (27).


Tailender Rangana Herath contributed just five runs in an eighth-wicket stand of 62 with his captain, who reached his 30th century with a paddle sweep off Graeme Swann for a boundary.


As the bowlers wilted under the hot sun, England were left to rue three dropped catches -- two by Monty Panesar and one by Anderson -- that reprieved Jayawardene.


The Sri Lankan captain has so far hit 20 boundaries and three sixes.

Jayawardene surpassed Australian legend Don Bradman's tally of 29 Test hundreds and moved to fourth place among those still playing at the top level behind Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (42) and Ricky Ponting (41).

Number 10 Chanaka Welegedara kept Jayawardene company at stumps on 10, the pair having added 36 valuable runs.

Sri Lanka's South African coach Graham Ford hailed Jayawardene's "special innings" and said the fightback had ensured his team will be competitive in the match.

Anderson, who claimed his 250th Test wicket with the dismissal of opener Lahiru Thirimanne, said England needed to get over the disappointment of allowing Sri Lanka to bounce back.


Anderson had Thirimanne caught at second slip in his second over and then forced Kumar Sangakkara to edge the next ball to wicket-keeper Matt Prior.


Mahela Jayawardene denied Anderson a hat-trick with a defensive push, but saw his partner Tillakaratne Dilshan perish in Broad's next over to another catch in the slips.


Samaraweera was run out soon after lunch when he backed up too far at the non-striker's end as Anderson deflected a ball on to the stumps.


Panesar conceded just 42 runs in his 23 overs, but Swann's 23 wicketless overs cost 92 runs on a pitch that is already providing uneven bounce.

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Pakistan poised for final after beating Sri Lanka

* Misbah leads from the front in Asia Cup
* Akmal helps captain with attacking 77 (Adds quotes, byline)
Half-centuries by captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal and a lively spell of bowling from paceman Aizaz Cheema helped Pakistan to a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup on Thursday.
Sri Lanka's defeat was their second in a row while Pakistan are now all but guaranteed a place in the final.
Misbah and Akmal shared a stand of 152 for the fourth wicket to lead Pakistan safely to their target in 39.5 overs after Cheema claimed four for 43 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for a mediocre 188.
Sri Lanka created early pressure when paceman Suranga Lakmal took two wickets and leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna picked up one to leave Pakistan struggling on 33 for three.
Misbah and Akmal then steadied the ship and gradually put Pakistan in control as they recorded a second win in the four-nation tournament, plus a bonus point for reaching their target with more than 10 overs to spare.
Akmal fell for 77 with his side three runs from victory. He tried to finish the match off with a six but ended up offering a catch to Upul Tharanga at mid-wicket off Farveez Maharoof.
The attacking right-hander, dropped earlier by Lahiru Thirimanne at backward square leg, struck seven fours and two sixes.
Misbah, a cool customer at the other end, hit 72 not out with nine fours and a six.
Hammad Azam, playing his first match in the tournament, completed the victory by hitting Prasanna for four through long off.

MISBAH PRAISE
"It was a much-needed performance from the middle order," Misbah told reporters.
"Most of our batsmen struggled during last month's England series," he added, referring to his team's 4-0 drubbing. "I think this performance is really a confidence builder."
Earlier, Cheema ripped the heart out of Sri Lanka's top-order before off-spinner Saeed Ajmal mopped up the tail with three for 27.
Cheema dismissed openers Mahela Jayawardene (12) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (20) as Sri Lanka slumped to 65 for four.
Kumar Sangakkara (71) and Tharanga (57) gave the bowlers something to defend by sharing a fifth-wicket partnership of 96 before Ajmal triggered a collapse which saw them lose their last six wickets for 27 runs.
"I thought that probably 250 on this track would have been a very competitive score," said skipper Jayawardene. "We didn't get anywhere near that.
"It's tough to get bowlers to come back and do something magical. I think they bowled really well and gave everything they had."
India are set to join Pakistan in the final if they beat hosts Bangladesh on Friday.

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Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets

DHAKA - Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets on Thursday to almost certainly book their place in the final of the Asia Cup one-day tournament in Dhaka.

Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (72 not out) and Umar Akmal (77) hit half-centuries as Pakistan achieved a 189-run target with more than 10 overs to spare in the day-night match.

Kumar Sangakkara (71) and Upul Tharanga (57) were Sri Lanka's main scorers, while paceman Aizaz Cheema took four wickets and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal bagged three for Pakistan.

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka 188 in 45.4 overs; Pakistan 189-4 in 39.5 overs

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