da dobrowin： The junior Pakistan and Sri Lanka sides lock horns againWednesday in the second one-dayer at the Rawalpindi CricketStadium
21-Nov-2001The junior Pakistan and Sri Lanka sides lock horns againWednesday in the second one-dayer at the Rawalpindi CricketStadium.After a convincing nine-wicket victory in Karachi over thetouring side in the opening match of the five-game series,the Pakistan camp is confident of scoring another win overtheir rivals as both sides prepare for next year’s JuniorWorld Cup in New Zealand.Pakistan coach Haroon Rasheed told Dawn that conditions inRawalpindi were a lot different than what they were inKarachi. “The wicket is grassy and the fast bowlers shouldplay an important part in tomorrow’s game.” He added thatthe dew factor also had to be kept in mind.The home players had nets for more than three hours Tuesdayand Haroon said that all the boys were in good shape. “Wewill go into the match with a positive attitude and we arenot complacent one bit.”The Sri Lankan manager Bandula Warnapura after watching thepitch also held similar views. “If the pitch remains(grassy) as it is by tomorrow, it is going to help theseamers.”He said that his team had lost the first match because fiveof his batsmen were run out. “That we still scored 198 runsshows that our batting is good and I am positive the batsmenwill put up an improved show tomorrow.”Warnapaura also expressed surprise over western mediareports about security concerns in Pakistan in the wake ofthe war in Afghanistan. “I don’t see any security problemshere and would even advise the other foreign teams thatPakistan is a safe place to play cricket.”Earlier, New Zealand had refused to tour Pakistan for a Testseries following the events of September 11 in the UnitedStates. Also, a tour by the West Indies next year is indoubt.