Archives

Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from England (George Steuarts logo)

BRISTOL, Sunday - Sri Lanka batsmen gave their best batting display so far in the lead-up to the NatWest One-day series, when they rattled off 275-8 off 50 overs and went on to defeat Gloucestershire by 93 runs here today.

Gloucestershire with four international cricketers in captain Mark Alleyne, former England wicket-keeper Jack Russell, Australian one-day all-rounder Ian Harvey and New Zealand opener Craig Spearman failed to match the Lankans total and were dismissed at the start of the 37th over for 182.

The leading run makers for Sri Lanka were Sanath Jayasuriya, Russell Arnold and Naveed Nawaz, all of whom scored contrasting half-centuries.

Jayasuriya as usual led from the front as he lashed his way to two sixes and five fours in a blistering display of power racing to 53 off 48 balls to set the tone for the innings.

The Sri Lankan captain would have done himself a world of good had he hastened at some point to play a big innings which is very much overdue from him. His fine knock was cut short by Alleyne, who had him caught behind by Russell in the 16th over.

Alleyne who has toured Sri Lanka on a number of occasions with various sides, had earlier accounted for Romesh Kaluwitharana for 14.

Kaluwitharana playing his first match of the tour as one of five replacements for the one-day series put on 53 off 68 balls with Jayasuriya for the first wicket.

Marvan Atapattu returning to competitive cricket after breaking a finger in the Old Trafford Test last week, made only six before getting run out. Although he didn't make many it was a comforting thought for Sri Lanka that he was at least back in action on the field.

With the national selectors opting for all-rounder Tilan Samaraweera as replacement for Muttiah Muralitharan who is returning home next week, the chances of Aravinda de Silva being retained in the one-day side is very remote, not with Atapattu back in the fold after injury. De Silva was asked to standby for Atapattu when he got injured. Mahela Jayawardene and Arnold added 59 for the fourth wicket, but at 140 in the 30th over, Harvey induced Jayawardene into edging a catch behind the wicket, and off the next ball had Chamara Silva caught without scoring.

Jayawardene was in good touch hitting one six and four fours in his 43-ball innings.

Nawaz joined his NCC team mate Arnold and the two produced the best batting of the innings. While Arnold was more content to run the singles and two's Nawaz, was straight away into his stride driving and pulling his way to three fours and an equal number of sixes in a partnership that produced 97 off 91 balls.

Arnold went on to make a top score of 80 off 86 balls reaching the boundary only four times. Alleyne coming for a new spell had him caught in the 45th over.

Nawaz carried on to make 64, his second consecutive half-century when Harvey dismissed him off the penultimate ball of the innings. Harvey and Alleyne, both medium-pacers took all seven wickets to fall to the bowlers between them.

When the county began their reply Dilhara Fernando and Nuwan Zoysa pushed them on the back foot with three early wickets making them 49-3 in the ninth over. It was a position from which they never recovered, despite a valiant effort from Spearman who top scored with a well paced out 76.

Spearman was sixth out at 140 in the 29th over when Upul Chandana got into the act by catching him off Jayasuriya and then going onto capture the wickets of Ball and Alleyne in successive overs to seal the fate of the match.

Chandana ended up with three wickets, the same as Fernando and Zoysa. Sri Lanka play their final warm-up match tomorrow against Northamptonshire at Northampton before travelling to Trent Bridge to meet England in the opening game of the NatWest series on Thursday.

SRI LANKA

S. Jayasuriya 	c Russell b Alleyne		 53
R. Kaluwitharana c Ball b Alleyne		 14
M. Atapattu 	run out				  6
M. Jayawardene 	c Russell b Harvey		 42
R. Arnold 	c Spearman b Alleyne		 80
C. Silva 	c Ball b Harvey			  0
N. Nawaz 	c Ball b Harvey			 64
U. Chandana 	c Hardinges b Harvey		  3
N. Zoysa 	not out				  7
P. Wickremasinghe 	not out			  0
EXTRAS						  6
TOTAL 	(8 wkts inns closed, 50 overs)		275

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-74, 3-81, 4-140, 5-140,
                 6-237, 7-253, 8-274.


Gloucestershire

C.Taylor 	c Kaluwitharana b Fernando	  3
C.Spearman 	c Chandana b Jayasuriya		 76
I.Harvey 	b Fernando			 17
M.Windows	b Zoysa				  2
A.Gidman 	c Nawaz b Fernando		 10
M.Hardinges 	run out				 16
M.Ball 		c Zoysa b Chandana		  4
M.Alleyne 	c & b Chandana			 12
R.Russell 	c Nawaz b Zoysa			 10
J.Averis 	b Zoysa				 20
J.Lewis 	not out				  0
EXTRAS 	(lb-3 w-5 nb-4)				 12
TOTAL (all out, 36.1 overs)			182

Fall of wickets: 1-9 2-35 3-49 4-81 5-118 
                 6-140 7-142 8-157 9-169 10-182
Bowling: Zoysa 7.1-0-43-3 (nb-3, w-1,Fernando 8-0-46-3(w-3)
         Wickramasinghe 7-1-33-0, Chandana 10-1-40-2 (nb-1)
         Jayasuriya 4-0-17-1 (w-1)

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager