Sri Lanka 'A' heading for victory

by Chris Dhambarage

Left arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon completed a match haul of ten wickets as Sri Lanka 'A' took a stranglehold over the touring South Africa 'A' team on the second day of the first four day unofficial test match continued at the NCC grounds, Maitland Place yesterday.

Weerakoon single handedly destroyed the South African batting in the second innings with excellent figures of 4 for 28 as the visitors collapsed to 108 for 6 by stumps which gave them an overall lead of 129 runs. South Africa 'A' who enjoyed a close first innings lead of 21 runs were just beginning to extend their overal lead through the second wicket pair of Jacque Rudolph and Hashim Amla.

The left hand right hand combination were shaping up well to build up a good partnership after they had lost opener Andrew Puttick in the third over of the innings.

The pair put on 62 runs for the third wicket in almost even time before Sajeewa Weerakoon got his act together well for the second time in the match. Earlier Kaushal Lokuarachchi hit a fighting half century and helped Sri Lanka 'A' close the gap on the visitors first innings total of 245 after they had slumped to 126 for 6 at one stage.

Lokuarachchi and Chanaka Wijesinghe figured in a superb rescue act while putting on 63 valuable runs in 62 minutes and 100 deliveries. Lokuarachchi and number eleven Ruchira Perera further frustrated the visitors with a last wicket stand of 28 runs. Lokuarachchi reached his half century in 72 balls with one six and six fours.

SOUTH AFRICA ‘A’ - 1ST INNINGS 245 
SRI LANKA ‘A’ - 1ST INNINGS 

Avishka Gunawardena c van der Wath b Zondeki	0
Upul Tharanga c Puttick b Zondeki		12
Ian Daniel lbw b Botha				48
Jehan Mubarak c Tsolekile b van der Wath		46
Chanaka Wijesinghe b Zondeki			29
Prasanna Jayawardena c Tsolekile b Botha		0
Dilhara Lokuhettige c Botha b Steyn		3
Kaushal Lokuarachchi not out			53
Sajeewa Weerakoon c and b Adams		0
Charith Jayaweera c Amla b Adams		5
Ruchira Perera lbw b Adams			8
Extras (B2, LB5, NB8, penalties 5)			20

TOTAL (all out)				224
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-32, 3-111, 4-123, 5-123, 6-126, 7-189, 
8-190, 9-196.
Bowling: M. Zondeki 13-4-54-3, J. van der Wath 11-3-39-1, 
D. Steyn 12-0-47-1, P. Adams 10.4-1-37-3, J. Botha 7-0-35-2.

SOUTH AFRICA ‘A’ - 2ND INNINGS

Jacque Rudolph c Tharanga b Weerakoon		35
Andrew Puttick b Perera			1
Hashim Amla b Weerakoon			35
Zander de Bruyn c Jayawardena b Weerakoon		0
Justing Ontong st. Jayawardena b Weerakoon	0
Thami Tsolekile not out			26 
John van der Wath c Jayawardena b Jayaweera	4 
John Botha not out				4
Extras (b1, nb1, lb1)				3

TOTAL (for 6 wickets)				108

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9, 2-71, 3-73, 4-73, 5-78, 6-89.
BOWLING: R. Perera  5-0-28-1, C. Jayaweera 11-1-15-1, 
S. Weerakoon 14-3-28-4, D. Lokuhettige 4-0-17-0, K. Lokuarachchi 8-2-18-0.