RAWALPINDI, Pakistan: Rain for the third consecutive day has delayed the resumption of the first test in Pakistan in 10 years.
Overnight rain left plenty of water on the covers at the Pindi Cricket Stadium and the outfield is also soggy.
The ground staff is busy in clearing water off the covers, but its still quite heavily overcast and the possibility of play before lunch on Saturday looks unlikely.
Sri Lanka, which last played a test in Pakistan in 2009, is 282-6 in its first innings with Dhananjaya de Silva unbeaten on 87 and Dilruwan Perera not out on 6.
So far only 91.5 overs of play has been possible in the first test of the two-match series which is part of ICC’s World Test Championship.
The wet weather in the northern city of Pakistan has badly affected the revival of test cricket in Pakistan for over a decade. Rawalpindi last hosted a test match in 2004 when India beat Pakistan by an innings margin.
Sri Lanka was the last team to play a test match in Pakistan, when terrorists attacked the touring team’s bus in Lahore in March 2009. The ambush killed eight people and left several Sri Lankan players and officials injured.
In the interim, Pakistan has played its home test matches on neutral territory, mostly in the United Arab Emirates.
Wet weather delays resumption of Pakistan vs Sri Lanka test
https://arab.news/wsb5y
Wet weather delays resumption of Pakistan vs Sri Lanka test
- Overnight rain left plenty of water on the covers at the Pindi Cricket Stadium
- The possibility of play before lunch on Saturday looks unlikely
Guardiola hails Man City’s ‘massive’ win over Newcastle
- Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola labelled Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday as a “massive” moment in the Premier League title race.
Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Nico O’Reilly put City ahead in the first half and restored the lead before half-time after Lewis Hall had equalized.
City weren’t at their best in the second half, but they held on to pile pressure on spluttering Arsenal, who travel to Tottenham for the north London derby on Sunday.
Guardiola knew it was essential to make Arsenal sweat.
“Massive. Newcastle is an incredible team, awesome in physicality and speed they have up front. Physicality in the middle. Really tough but the team was unbelievable,” he said.
“It’s coming in best part of the season. Every single game will be similar to today.”
After finishing without a trophy last season, City are back in the hunt for the seventh English title of Guardiola’s reign.
They will have a game in hand on Arsenal after this weekend and are guaranteed to win the title if they win their last 11 league matches.
Guardiola has embarked on an expensive overhaul of City’s squad in the last 12 months, shedding aging stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Kyle Walker and bringing in the likes of Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
The Spaniard is well aware that his new generation largely lacks the experience of winning under the pressure of a title race, which made their gritty success against Newcastle even more meaningful.
“70 percent of the players have never been in that situation, and I don’t play. So we have to live it, they know that every game will be like this,” he said.
“Especially at home, with five home games left. Today was the best crowd of the year, it was unbelievable with our people, really proud to be manager of these incredible people and fans.
“Of course in terms of points it’s important, but we have to improve to have chance to compete until the end. Now we deserve three more days off. Then another battle in Leeds.”
Guardiola singled out O’Reilly for praise after the young England midfielder’s pair of clinical finishes showed he won’t be affected by the strain of chasing Arsenal.
“Nico give us in the middle that physicality that we need. He now plays in his position,” he said.
“He has always played that, he is so complete and so young. I am really pleased the academy produced these incredible players, Nico, Phil (Foden), Rico (Lewis).”
