10.33pm: Presentations time, starting with Player of the Match Sahibzada Farhan: [waits for Urdu translation] … USA captain Monank Patel is next up: “Thought we bowled well in the powerplay but not the middle overs, we gave up a lot of runs. Came back at the death, the pace bowlers bowled well. We were in the game, did well in the powerplay but again in the middle overs we couldn’t show intent and lost wickets. Their spinners weren’t putting pace on the ball and it was hard to hit boundaries and sixes. We’ve been playing good cricket, coming here we were confident but small mistakes cost you. We want to finish this WC strong with two wins. Not easy playing a different venue, we have one session in Chennai [before facing Netherlands] but we’ll utilise that and make sure we come back stronger.”
Pakistan’s Salman Agha: “Clinical performance, we started well with the bat and batted really well in the middle. When we come to bowling, we have a world-class attack and scoring 190, we know we could defend that. I would have batted as well, if we score 160-170, we know we can defend that. [Teams prefer chasing?] We are Pakistani, we do it differently. We are comfortable chasing, but we try to bat first and put up above par, then try to defend. We have a flexible order, first three ready to go and then finishers can go early, or if we lose wickets we have batters who can take the game deeper. Always room for improvement, we’d like to bowl better in the powerplay, be more clinical. These are the things we want to improve.”
Okay, that’s a wrap for tonight’s action from Colombo. Matt Roller’s report is in the slot, and we’ll have more to come from our team at the ground. Join us again tomorrow for another World Cup triple-bill. Bye!
10.28pm: No dramas for Pakistan against the US this time around. Donald will be disappointed. It would have been a YUGE upset after Pakistan put up a more-than-decent score, and their spin-heavy attack defended it comfortably in the end, despite handy knocks from Shayan Jahangir and Shubham Ranjane. The USA players are going on a tour of the boundary to salute their supporters after a triumphant first night of floodlit cricket at the SSC
