Sri Lanka's chances washed away

Atapattu: Only 10 minutes batting since Thursday

The third and final Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was abandoned as a draw after rain washed out the fifth day's play.

There was already no chance of a positive result after the teams only managed 10 minutes of play in the previous two days.

Pakistan took the series 2-0 and captain Moin Khan praised his team for a "tremendous effort".

"It was a totally combined effort and everybody performed well in the series, that's why we won," he said.

"The series was a great opportunity for the young players to play with the seniors. The absence of Saqlain put a lot of responsibility on Arshad Khan, and he responded well."

Moin added: "Sri Lanka came back very hard in this game and it could have been a good match, had it not been for the rain."

Before the weather ruined the match, Sri Lanka had batted their way to 467 for five in their first innings, with opener Marvan Atapattu unbeaten on 207.

"The Pakistanis have been playing a lot of cricket in the last six months. They have been putting the pressure on us. They are bowling well with the new ball as well as the old," commented Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya.

The two sides will now be joined by South Africa for a one-day tournament and Pakistan are in confident mood.

"Our team morale is very high after the Test series win, and we are looking forward to winning the one-day triangular," said Moin.

"We have won the last three one-day tournaments we've taken part in. We have won against South Africa at Sharjah and hopefully we will do it again here."

Scoreboard:

Sri Lanka first innings

M Atapattu not out 207
S Jayasuriya c Younis b Razzaq 188
R Arnold c Moin b Razzaq 24
A de Silva c Younis b Arshad 0
M Jayawardene b Arshad 2
A Ranatunga c Mushtaq b Arshad 6
K Dharmasena not out 12

Extras (14b, 8lb, 1w, 5nb) 28
Total (for 5 wickets, 155.4 overs) 467

Fall: 1-335 2-401 3-402 4-412 5-434

To bat: C Vaas, N Zoysa, M Muralitharan

Bowling: Wasim Akram 25-6-41-0, Waqar Younis 19.4-0-94-0, Arshad Khan 52-7-134-3, Abdur Razzaq 33-10-65-2, Mushtaq Ahmed 26-3-108-0.

Pakistan: Saeed Anwar, Imran Nazir, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-haq, Younis Khan, Wasim Akram, Abdur Razzaq, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis, Arshad Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed.