Late strikes with the new ball left Pakistan on 289 for seven at the close on the first day of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka on Monday. Pakistan's batsmen had dominated much of the day with opener Khurram Manzoor scoring 93 and Mohammad Yousuf 90 after sharing a 167-run stand for the third wicket. However, three wickets fell for just two runs in the final 15 minutes of the evening session as Sri Lanka hit back. Left-arm paceman Thilan Thushara was the pick of the bowlers, dismissing Fawad Alam (16) and Younus Khan (two) in the morning and then sparking the late collapse by trapping Shoaib Malik leg before for 45. Sri Lanka, 2-0 up in the series, had Pakistan in early trouble as the ball swung and seamed in overcast conditions in the morning. But Yousuf and Manzoor steadied the innings as batting became easier in the afternoon as cloud cover was replaced by bright sunshine and Sri Lanka's bowlers were forced to toil hard. Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara even turned to the part-time medium pace of former captain Mahela Jayawardene in bid to conjure-up a breakthrough. It was Chaminda Vaas, who was included for his farewell Test match in place of spinner Ajantha Mendis, who made the breakthrough, finding the outside edge of Manzoor and Jayawardene took the catch at slip. Minutes later Yousuf threw his wicket away trying to complete a foolish second run after a miss-field and was run out. Malik and Misbahul Haq (27) steadied the innings once again with a 75-run stand before Sri Lanka took the second new ball. Malik was the first to go, pinned lbw by an in-swinger, before Nuwan Kulasekera found the inside edge of Misbah and then bowled Umar Gul. Pakistan captain Younus Khan hoped the tailenders would be able to take the total to 325-330, which will put Sri Lanka under pressure. “The second new ball created problems for us, but we must remember that Sri Lanka have not scored 300 in any of the matches,” he said. “I had hoped that either Misbah or Malik would be there till the end, but I am confident we will not fold up easily tomorrow. The wicket here is quite similar to the ones in the previous Tests, but the ball skids a bit more and that will not make batting easy later in the game.” Prize boost for Champs The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa will offer $4 million in total prizemoney, an almost four-fold increase from the previous two tournaments. A total of $1.15 million was offered in the last two editions played in 2004 and 2006, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement on Monday. The premier one-day event is second in importance only to the World Cup.
