Cricket: Sohail accuses Pakistan board

Pakistan 398 & 314 Sri Lanka 328 & 165-2 Match drawn

THE ASIAN Test Championship match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Lahore ended in a draw after rain and poor light forced an early end to the fifth day's play. Both teams had already qualified for the final of the inaugural championship.

While there was little action on the pitch, the Pakistan Cricket Board and Aamir Sohail made up for it by trading accusations after the former Test captain was not named in the squad of 19 for the World Cup.

Sohail, who has accused some team-mates of match-fixing in an ongoing Pakistani judicial inquiry, said he had had been left out of the squad not because of poor form but because of his allegations. "I am being penalised for my efforts to root out corruption in Pakistan cricket," he said.

A board spokesman replied: "The statement is false and an attempt to settle a score with the Pakistan Cricket Board for his omission from the team."

ASIAN TEST CHAMPIONSHIP (Lahore):

Fifth day; Pakistan won the toss

PAKISTAN - First Innings 398 (Wajahatullah Wasti 133, Yousuf Youhana 83, Imran Nazir 64, D D Wickramasinghe 6-103).

SRI LANKA - First Innings 328 (R P Arnold 123, R S Kaluwitharana 100).

PAKISTAN - Second Innings 314-8 dec (Wajahatullah Wasti 121no, Afridi 84).

SRI LANKA - Second Innings

(Overnight: 60-0)

R P Arnold not out 56

A Gunawardene lbw b Shahid Nazir 37

D P M Jayawardene c Moin Khan

b Wasim Akram 50

M S Atapattu not out 6

Extras (10lb, 5nb) 15

Total (for 2, 51.1 overs) 164

Fall: 1-64, 2-158.

Did not bat: *H P Tillakaratne, R S Kalpage, K S C de Silva, U C Hathurusingha, M R C N Bandaratilake, G P Wickramasinghe.

Bowling: Wasim Akram 13-2-39-1; Fazl-e-Akbar 8-1-27-0; Saqlain Mushtaq 21.1-8-53-0; Shahid Nazir 8-0-27-1; Wasti 1-0-8-0.

Umpires: R E Koertzen (SA) and D R Shepherd (Eng).

MATCH DRAWN