LANKA 'A' FIGHT-BACK AFTER ANOTHER PATHETIC BATTING DISPLAY

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

PATHETIC is how one can describe the batting of the Sri Lanka 'A' side who were bundled out for 145 by England 'A' on the opening day of the second unofficial cricket test played at the NCC grounds yesterday.

But by the close Sri Lanka 'A' had somewhat clawed their way back to capture five England 'A' wickets for 118 runs setting the match up for an absorbing contest over the next three days.

The situation would have been even more in favour of Sri Lanka 'A' had skipper Mubarak held onto a leg slip catch offered by Owais Shah off Suraj Mohamed towards the closing stages of the day. Rated as one of the best players of spin in the side, the right-handed Shah remained unbeaten on 27 having battled it out for 83 minutes. How costly that catch could prove will be known today. Shah batted superbly to score 81 in the first 'test'.

The Sri Lanka 'A' batting crumbled to the right-arm medium-pace of England 'A' captain Ian Bell after they had won the toss for the second time in a row and on this occasion decided to bat first.

Bell who tormented Sri Lanka 'A' in the first game at the CCC grounds (which England 'A' won by 197 runs) with a cultured century (144) was in fine fettle with the ball yesterday picking up four wickets for 18 runs off nine overs with his right-arm medium-pacers. It was his second best effort after his 4-4 against Middlesex at Lord's in a rather brief 69-match first-class career.

Until the beginning of the 2004 English season Bell seldom bowled taking only nine first-class wickets.

But Warwickshire made full use of his bowling skills last season, which saw him bowl more overs than he had in any of his five previous seasons.

He ended up taking 16 wickets (avg. 27.37) from 18 first-class matches and yesterday's effort could be described as an extension of the confidence the county had in his bowling. Bell was helped to a great extent by wicket-keeper Mark Prior standing upto the stumps. He held two of his four catches in that position.

Sri Lanka 'A' made one change bringing in opener Shantha Kalavitigoda for Avishka Gunawardene. The stylish right-hander from Colts scored 39 off 81 balls (7 fours), which was the best individual effort by any batsman. On a pitch that provided movement for the seamers the Sri Lanka 'A' batsmen were stroke happy and that proved to be their undoing.

There was a lack of discipline not only in the batting but in the bowling as well with the fast bowlers conceding seven no-balls and a wide. The difference in the bowling between the two sides was that while England 'A' made the batsmen play virtually every delivery, the Lankan 'A' bowlers were off line and lacked the discipline to bowl on one side of the wicket.

It was not until Mohamed joined leg-spinner Malinga Bandara to bowl in tandem that England 'A' looked in any kind of trouble.

Off-spinner Mohamed took the prize scalp of Bell for 31 when he drew him forward for a drive and had him stumped off the first ball he bowled. Eight balls later Bandara forced Cook (27) to edge a catch to Mubarak at slip. Cook and Bell added 50 in 49 minutes for the second wicket after Ranjith had made the initial breakthrough by having Solanki caught and bowled for 15 in the seventh over of the innings.

English wickets continued to tumble as the spinners gradually gained the upperhand. Powell went the same way as Cook falling to the same combination for six, and Clarke who scored 30 off 27 balls at the CCC, struggled for one run off 30 balls before edging a catch to Mubarak at slip to give Bandara his third wicket of the innings. Dawson sent as nightwatchman survived the day by hanging on for 21 minutes without opening his account.

Bell obviously pleased with his bowling effort described the pitch as 'an excellent track' despite the fact that 15 wickets have already fallen in one day.

It helped the seamers in the morning and under sweltering heat whatever moisture it had was drained out making it hard and dry for the spinners to exploit it to the maximum.

SRI LANKA 'A' 1ST INNINGS  
S. Kalavitigoda c Prior b Dawson	 39 
G.I. Daniel c Prior b Clarke		  9 
M.R.G. Wijekoon c Swann b Bell		 14 
A.S. Polonowita lbw b Mahmood		 20 
J. Mubarak c Cook b Mahmood		 11 
S.H.T. Kandamby c Mahmood b Bell	 10  
H.A.P.W. Jayawardene c Prior b Bell	  0 
C.M. Bandara c Powell b Swann		  0  
M.M.T. Thushara c Prior b Bell		  7    
M.M.S. Mohamed not out			 21 
P.N. Ranjith c Clarke b Dawson		  1  
Extras (b-3, lb-3, nb-5, w-2)		 13 
Total (all out, 46.4 overs, 187 mins)	145 

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-48, 3-79, 4-97,  5-100, 
                 6-108, 7-109, 8-114, 9-125, 10-145.  
Bowling: Mahmood 9-2-18-2, Clarke 7-1-30-1, 
         Franks 5-1-18-0 (2w, 3nb), Bell 9-4-18-4 (2nb),
         Swann 14-3-43-1, Dawson 2.4-0-12-2. 

ENGLAND 'A' 1ST  INNINGS 
V.S. Solanki c and b Ranjith			 15  
A.N. Cook c Mubarak b Bandara			 27 
I.R. Bell st Jayawardene b Mohamed		 31 
O.A. Shah not out				 27 
M.J. Powell c Mubarak b Bandara			  6 
R. Clarke c Mubarak b Bandara			  1 
R.K.J. Dawson not out				  0 
Extras (lb-3, nb-7, w-1)			 11 
Total (5 wkts at close, 44 overs, 164 mins)	118 

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-77, 3-91, 4-97,  5-112.  
To bat: M.J. Prior, G.P. Swann, S.I.  Mahmood, P.J. Franks. 
Bowling: Ranjith 5-0-21-1 (3nb), Wijekoon 5-0-19-0 (2nb),
         Bandara 17-6-38-3, Thushara 4-1-17-0 (1w, 2nb),
         Mohamed 12-5-14-1, Mubarak 1-0-6-0.