Samaraweera happy scoring century

Published October 22, 2004

FAISALABAD, Oct 21: Thilan Samaraweera said he had a peaceful sleep the night before as he went in to resume his innings in the nervous 90s on the second day of the first cricket Test against Pakistan.

"I slept well, I had a couple of cramps and back pain but now I am alright," he said smilingly after scoring exactly 100.

Coming in to bat with his team in deep trouble at nine for three, Samaraweera batted virtually all day through to pull his side to safer shores.

"I think I am happy, people say I am good only in Sri Lanka, but I think it's really happy times here facing Shoaib (Akhtar) and (Mohammad) Sami, they are superb bowlers," Samaraweera said.

"I went there to bat normal and after that Sanat (Jayasuriya) and I myself settled down on that wicket. We got through the lunch session and at end of the day I scored 97 not out and we were satisfied with 233 for seven."

Samaraweera, 28, who cracked a century on debut against India in 2001 was surprised to see both teams not getting big totals on a batting wicket.

"The wicket is a good for batting, similar to Sri Lankan wickets but unfortunately both teams could only score 250-odd runs," he said. Samaraweera got to his 100 with a square drive off Shoaib for the three runs that he needed this morning.

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