HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka: Captain Angelo Mathews and Mahela Jayawardene hit half centuries to anchor Sri Lanka to 275-7 in the first one-day international against Pakistan on Saturday.
Mathews smashed a career-best 89 off 85 balls with nine fours and two sixes while Jayawardene, who quit test cricket after Sri Lanka swept Pakistan 2-0 in the test series earlier this week, made 63 off 66 balls.
The pair revived Sri Lanka's innings by combining for a 116-run fifth-wicket stand in the match, which was reduced to 45-overs-a-side due to rain.
Ashan Priyanjan gave the innings an impetus with his late, quickfire 39 off just 15 balls with eight boundaries as Pakistan conceded 105 runs in the last 10 overs.
Fast bowler Wahab Riaz picked up 3-50 and tall paceman Mohammad Irfan finished with 2-48 in his comeback match after 10 months due to hip injury.
Pakistan's trio of left-arm pace bowlers did well early by reducing Sri Lanka to 75-4 after captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bowl in overcast conditions.
But Mathews and Jayawardene batted resolutely against both spinners Mohammad Hafeez (1-32) and Shahid Afridi (0-57), who became Pakistan's most capped ODI player by featuring in his 379th match.
Jayawardene reached a milestone when he became the fifth leading run-scorer in one-day internationals by driving Riaz through covers for his eighth boundary to surpass Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq (11,739).
Pakistan struggled to contain Mathews and Jayawardene in the absence of its ace offspinner Saeed Ajmal, who is travelling to Australia to undergo tests on his suspect bowling action.
Jayawardene departed in the 38th over when he was run out by a direct throw from wicketkeeper Umar Akmal, but Mathews kept the momentum going until his off stump was toppled by Riaz in the penultimate over.
Priyanjan ensured Sri Lanka posted a challenging total when he smashed six of his eight boundaries against Junaid Khan (0-75).
