Shoaib the first to be trapped by TV replay

Pakistan 200 Sri Lanka 201-2 Sri Lanka win by 8 wickets

As the ball thumped into the pads here at the Premadasa Stadium last night, Daryl Harper drew an oblong in the air, spoke on the radio mike and made history. What he wanted to know was if the ball from Chaminda Vaas which had struck Shoaib Malik's left leg met the requirements of Law 36.

There then ensued the longest gap that the game has known between an appeal for leg before wicket and a verdict. It was officially recorded as 60 seconds, an eternity for a batsman to be on death row. Almost worth a reprieve. If Ray Julian was watching he must have wondered what was going off out there.

When Julian was asked the lbw question and was of a mind to answer in the affirmative, the speed and purpose with which he raised the index digit made the Ringo Kid look slow on the draw. It did not prevent Julian being one of the best loved of all umpires, but when he retired there were rumours that he would be hired as a replacement for Roy Rogers' horse, Trigger.

Harper consulted the third umpire, Rudi Koertzen, who informed him that the ball had not pitched outside leg stump, a point which was crucial to any decision. Satisfied that the inswinger would also have gone on to hit the wicket, the official raised the finger of doom and Salim was on his way. He was the first lbw victim of a referral by an umpire on the field to one off it.

It was the 29th ball of the first match in the Champions Trophy, between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the formal start of an experiment in using television replays to help reach decisions. Harper made a wise choice, although it could be said that he might have done likewise later for appeals against Sanath Jayasuriya (caught behind) and Aravinda de Silva (another lbw).

Sins of omission are likely to be the biggest bone of contention in this trial. Television will unquestionably demonstrate that batsmen would have been given out if only there had been consultation.

Harper joined his fellow Australian umpires C A Reid and R B Terry in making historic lbw decisions. Actually, it was either Reid or Terry; it was not recorded which one was standing at the bowler's end when Tom Garrett had England's Henry Jupp given out in the first Test of all in March 1877, the first-ever leg before victim in international cricket.

Yesterday's match, in front of a capacity 35,000, effectively ended Pakistan's interest in the tournament. Under its new system both sides have at least one more game, but as it is against the Netherlands last night's tie was the pool decider. Anybody who loses to the Netherlands in this competition can expect a call from Lord Condon and his pals at the Anti-Corruption Unit.

Pakistan have been a shambles lately, far from the team who beat Australia in a three-match series only two months ago. They were all out for 200 and Sri Lanka lost only two wickets in an efficient reply. Jayasuriya scored his 13th and possibly least spectacular one-day century in 118 balls.

The big story of the day from the Trophy was the castigation of an International Cricket Council official for allegedly failing, according to the local press, to distribute enough complementary tickets to Sri Lankan officials and players. The article said that Chris Tetley had made a mess of their allocation. It was all hyped-up stuff, which Tetley did not deserve but given his surname it was unfortunate that he was essentially being accused of being unable to organise a party in a brewery.