Shinwari’s 5-wicket haul leads Pakistan to 5-0 sweep against Sri Lanka

SHARJAH – The writing seemed to be on the wall within just 21 balls of the Sri Lankan innings, and Pakistan completed the demolition job by winning the fifth and final One-Day International in Sharjah by nine wickets to complete a 5-0 sweep on Monday. Usman Shinwari, the latest in Pakistan’s long line of left-arm fast-bowling talent, produced a remarkable opening spell of five overs, in which he had 5 for 12 at one stage – all the wickets coming in his first 21 balls. The Sri Lankan batsmen just couldn’t seem to deal with Shinwari’s speed and the skid he generated and fell one after the other. Shinwari, playing just his second ODI, finished with 5 for 24. The Sri Lankan innings was wrapped up in 26.2 overs for 103, its second lowest against Pakistan behind the 78 it had been shot out for in Sharjah in 2002. The 21 balls Shinwari, who debuted in the fourth ODI on Friday, took to record a five-wicket haul was the third fastest in ODI history. Chaminda Vaas took five wickets off just 16 balls against Bangladesh in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, while Timm van der Gugten, the Netherlands pacer, got there in 20 balls against Canada in 2013. For Sri Lanka, only Thisara Perera (25), Lahiru Thirimanne (19), Seekkuge Prasanna (16) and Dushmantha Chameera (11) reached double-figures as Shadab Khan (2 for 24) and Hasan Ali (2 for 19) helped wrap up the innings after Shinwari’s early burst. Shinwari, picked up in the national team for the first time in 2013 but largely left on the bench, responded to the selection in the first XI in style. Sadeera Samarawickrama was used as opener, but he fell off the fifth ball of the match, bowled for nought off a skiddy delivery. Dinesh Chandimal went next ball, edging behind without scoring as he was caught at the crease. Next over, Shinwari had Upul Tharanga bowled for eight and then trapped Niroshan Dickwella lbw, also for a duck. Shinwari completed his haul when he had Milinda Siriwardana (six) caught by Fakhar Zaman at cover point. Pakistan wrapped up the chase in 20.2 overs with Zaman scoring 48 and Imam-ul-Haq hitting 45 not out. The two shared an opening stand of 84 before Jeffrey Vandersay had Zaman, who hit seven boundaries, stumped. Imam hit the winning boundary, his fourth in addition to a six. The defeat was Sri Lanka's 12th in a row, while Pakistan has now won nine in a row since losing to India in the group phase of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in June. Sri Lanka had swept the preceding Test series 2-0, and now the teams will face off in a series of three T20 Internationals, the first two of which will be played in Abu Dhabi on October 26 and 27, and the final one in Lahore on October 29. –ICC SCOREBOARD Sri Lanka Innings           Upul Tharanga                                       b U. khan                                     8 Sadeera Samarawickrama               b U. khan                                     0 Dinesh Chandimal                               c S. Ahmed b U. khan             0 Lahiru Thirimanne                               c S. Ahmed b H. Ali                 19 Niroshan Dickwella                              lbw b U. khan                           0 Milinda Siriwardana                            c Zaman b U. khan                 6 Seekkuge Prasanna                             run out (S. Khan)                   16 Thisara Perera                                       c Ashraf b S. Khan                  25 Jeffrey Vandersay                                lbw b S. Khan                           2 Dushmantha Chameera                    b H. Ali                                       11 Vishwa Fernando                                  not out                                       7 Extras                                                        (lb-1 w-8)                                   9 Total                                                         (all out, 26.2 overs)                 103 Fall of wickets: 1-1 S. Samarawickrama,2-1 D. Chandimal,3-8 U. Tharanga,4-8 N. Dickwella,5-20 M. Siriwardana,6-49 L. Thirimanne,7-63 S. Prasanna,8-85 T. Perera,9-85 J. Vandersay,10-103 D. Chameera Bowling                     Usman Khan                                             7 - 0 - 34 - 5(w-5) Faheem Ashraf                                          4 - 0 - 12 - 0(w-1) Imad Wasim                                               4 - 1 - 12 - 0(w-2) Hasan Ali                                                    5.2 - 0 - 19 - 2 Shadab Khan                                            5 - 1 - 24 - 2 Mohammad Hafeez                               1 - 0 - 1 - 0 Pakistan Innings             Imam-ul-Haq                      not out                                             45 Fakhar Zaman                     c Dickwella b Vandersay         48 Faheem Ashraf                    not out                                           5 Extras                                     (lb-2 w-5)                                       7 Total                                        (for 1 wickets, 20.2 overs)     105 Fall of wickets: 1-84 F. Zaman Did not bat: B. Azam, M. Hafeez, S. Malik, S. Ahmed, I. Wasim, S. Khan, H. Ali, U. Khan Bowling                     Dushmantha Chameera                            4 - 1 - 13 - 0 Vishwa Fernando                                         4 - 1 - 21 - 0 Jeffrey Vandersay                                        6.2 - 0 - 30 - 1(w-1) Thisara Perera                                               2 - 0 - 18 - 0 Seekkuge Prasanna                                    4 - 0 - 21 - 0(w-4) Umpire: Sundaram Ravi Umpire: Ahsan Raza TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough Match referee: Andy Pycroft Result: Pakistan won by 9 wickets