|
Sri Lanka 'A'-England 'A' 1st unofficial test today:
Solanki and Prior the batsmen to watch
BY SA'ADI Thawfeeq
IF Sri Lanka 'A' are to get anywhere close to beating England 'A' in the
two-match 4-day unofficial test series starting at the CCC grounds
today, the priority for their bowlers will be to target batsmen Vikram
Solanki and Matthew Prior.
England 'A's clean 4-0 sweep against United Arab
Emirates in the desert was largely due to the efforts of these two
batsmen. Prior of Sussex and Solanki from Worcestershire totally
dominated the series played in Sharjah.
The pair rounded off the first leg of England 'A's tour
by sharing a double century opening stand of 227 which gave them victory
by nine wickets with 8.4 overs to spare chasing 244.
Solanki, described as one of the most elegant batsmen of
his generation made 109 (3 sixes, 7 fours) and Prior hit an unbeaten 122
with 13 fours and three sixes to see England home in a canter.
The pair was responsible for England's 66-run win in the
second game when they laid the platform for the win with a 100-run
opening stand. Solanki made 55 and Prior 84 on that occasion.
In the opening game it was Solanki with skipper Ian Bell
who steered the side to victory with a 138-run second wicket stand.
Solanki smashed five sixes and two fours in scoring 94
while Bell, slightly more circumspect hit two sixes and three fours in
his innings of 61. Owais Shah picked up four wickets with his seldom
used off-breaks to cripple the UAE batting.
Where England 'A' got a scare was in the third match
when they grabbed victory with just one wicket to spare. Chasing UAE's
total of 188, England 'A' were greatly indebted to Prior's knock of 56
and Shah's 42. But no. 10 Sajid Mahmood held his nerve to clinch the
match in his team's favour.
True the opposition England 'A' will encounter in Sri
Lanka will be much stronger than the one they got from UAE. But
nevertheless a win is a win and England 'A' will be with their tails up
ahead of today's match. It is left to the home team bowlers to cause a
dent to their confidence.
Sri Lanka 'A' are fielding three fast medium bowlers in
Thilina Thushara, Nandika Ranjith and Gayan Wijekoon supported by the
spin of Malinga Bandara and Suraj Mohamed. The batting looks solid with
Gunawardene, Daniel, Polonowita, skipper Mubarak and Kandamby with
wicket-keeper Jayawardene at no.7.
England 'A' arrived on Saturday for two unofficial tests
and participation in a one-day triangular with Sri Lanka 'A' and
Pakistan 'A'.
England 'A' results in UAE:
*1st match: England A 228-7 [V. Solanki 94, I. Bell 61]
beat UAE 186-9 (O.Shah 4-40] by 42 runs.
*2nd match: England A 280-8 [V. Solanki 55, M. Prior 84,
M.Powell 42] beat UAE 214-9 [D. Harrison 2-36] by 66 runs.
*3rd match: England A 189-9 in 49.1 overs [V. Solanki
32, M. Prior 56, O. Shah 42] beat UAE 188 [J. Lewis 2-40, S. Mahmood
2-25] by one wicket.
*4th match: England A 245-1 in 41.2 overs [V. Solanki
109, M. Prior 122 n.o.] beat UAE 243-5 by nine wickets. |
