The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Toss holds the key

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Toss holds the key

LAHORE, OCT. 15. Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq says whoever wins the toss and bats first will have the advantage in Saturday's triangular series final against Sri Lanka, after dew caused fielding problems in Thursday's preliminary match.

"Dew factor will count a lot and whosoever wins the toss will have a big edge," said Inzamam of the day-night limited overs match.

"There was lot of dew in the last two hours of the match last night and it was difficult for the bowlers," he said.

Early start ruled out

Inzamam and Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu proposed bringing forward the start of the final from to around noon Pakistan time so that both teams could avoid the dew, but the Pakistan Cricket Board rejected the option.

"The match will start as per schedule which is 1:45 p.m.," he said.

Inzamam led his side to a convincing six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the last league game on Thursday and will go into the final with four victories from as many league games — two against Zimbabwe and two against Sri Lanka.

The teams:

Pakistan (from): Inzamam-ul-Haq (Capt.), Moin Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Sami, Yasir Hameed, Shoaib Akhtar, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Salman Butt, Rao Iftikhar, Bazid Khan.

Sri Lanka (from): Marvan Atapattu (Capt.), Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Tilekeratne Dilshan, Saman Jayantha, Avishka Gunawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Chandana, Farveez Mahroof, Nuwan Zoysa, Dilhara Fernando, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Thilina Kandamby and Rangana Herath.

Umpires: Simon Taufel, Aleem Dar. TV umpire: Asad Rauf. Match referee: Jeff Crowe. — AP

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