Skipper Angelo Mathews battled his way to an unbeaten 77 as Sri Lanka seized the advantage in the series-deciding third and final Test against Pakistan in Pallekele on Sunday.
The hosts gained a first innings lead of 63 runs and then recovered from 35-3 in their second knock to post 228-5 by stumps on a rain-interrupted, but absorbing, third day’s play.
Mathews led from the front against a tiring Pakistani attack, adding 45 for the fourth wicket with Upul Tharanga (48) and 81 for the fifth with Jehan Mubarak (35).
Mubarak marked his recall to the Test side after almost eight years with a gutsy 35 before he was caught at short-leg off Yasir Shah in the final session.
Dinesh Chandimal returned to form with 39 not out, helping his captain put on 67 for the sixth wicket before bad light ended the day’s play early.
Sri Lanka will begin the fourth day with a commanding overall lead of 291 runs with five wickets in hand, having a clear advantage on the wearing pitch to break the 1-1 deadlock in the series.
Left-arm seamer Rahat Ali grabbed two quick wickets and new ball partner Ehsan Adil took one to leave Sri Lanka tottering in the morning session.
Rahat bowled first innings century-maker Dimuth Karunaratne for 10 and yorked Lahiru Thirimanne for no score in an inspired eight-over opening spell.
In between, Ehsan had Kaushal Silva caught in the slips by a diving Misbah-ul-Haq for three.
Tharanga and Mathews repaired the early damage on either side of lunch before Yasir broke the partnership.
Having had a leg-before review turned down by the TV umpire off the previous ball, the leg-spinner forced Tharanga to edge the next delivery to Azhar Ali at short-leg.
Play was held up twice by passing showers in the morning session and once again before tea, keeping the hard-working ground staff on their toes as they rushed in the covers to guard both the wicket and the outfield.
Earlier, the tourists added six runs to their overnight score of 209-9 before they were all out for 215 in the day’s second over in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 278.
Pakistan’s six runs in the morning all came off the bat of Sarfraz Ahmed, who remained unbeaten on 78.
Last man Imran Khan, who had not faced a ball in four previous Tests, survived for seven deliveries before he was bowled by off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal for zero.
Kaushal, Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep finished with three wickets each.
Pakistan won the first Test in Galle by 10 wickets and Sri Lanka took the second in Colombo by seven wickets.
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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