Sri Lanka 'A' in six-wicket win
 

BY CHRIS Dhambarage

SRI LANKA 'A' completed a rousing six wicket victory over the touring South Africa 'A' team with more than a day to spare in the first four day unofficial test match played at the NCC grounds, Maitland Place yesterday.

The visitors were bundled out for just 173 runs in their second innings leaving the home side a victory target of 195 runs.

They reached their target quite convincingly scoring an impressive 200 for 4 in their second innings to take a one nil lead in the series with the second test starting on Tuesday at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy.

Sri Lanka's matchwinner was their left arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon who finished with a matchbag of thirteen wickets. In the second innings he returned excellent figures of seven for 47 following his six wicket haul in the first innings.

South Africa 'A' of course made a desperate attempt to take the game at least into the fourth day through their seventh wicket pair of Thami Tsolokile and John Botha. The pair were shaping up well and had repaired the early damage with a good stand of 58 runs.

Botha batting at number eight hit a top score of 41 from 85 balls with six fours while Tsolokile occupied the crease for more than two hours for his knock of 31 which included two fours.

However Kaushal Lokuarachchi came back for a new spell of bowling and broke the stand before Sajeewa Weerakoon polished off the tail within the space of two overs.

Sri Lanka 'A' did not waste any time in reaching their victory target as they raced to 200 for 4 wickets in only 42.2 overs. Skipper Avishka Gunawardena led the way with an entertaining knock of 83 runs from just 97 balls with one six and eleven fours.

The dashing left hander also figured in a second wicket stand of 103 runs in 101 minutes with Ian Daniel who struck three fours and one six during his knock of 35 runs.

SOUTH AFRICA ‘A’ FIRST INNINGS 245
SRI LANKA ‘A’ FIRST INNINGS 224

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 
Justin Ontong st Jayawardena b Weerakoon 	 0 
Thami Tsolokile c Mubarak b Lokuarachchi 	31 
John van der Wath c Jayawardena b Jayaweera 	 4 
John Botha lbw b Weerakoon 			41
Paul Adams not out 				21
Monde Zondeki lbw b Weerakoon		 	 0
Dale Styen lbw b Weerakoon 			 0
Extras (b1, lb1, nb3) 				 5
TOTAL ALL OUT 					173
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9, 2-71, 3-73, 4-73, 
5-78, 6-89, 7-147, 8-171, 9-173 
BOWLING: R. Perera 9-0-42-1, C. Jayaweera 15-2-33-1, 
S. Weerakoon 22.4-6-47-7, D. Lokuhettige 4-0-17-0,
 K. Lokuarachchi 12-3-32-1.

 SRI LANKA ‘A’ 2ND INNINGS

Avishka Gunawardena b Ontong 		83
Upul Tharanga b Zondeki 		 6
Ian Daniel c Tsolokile b Steyn 		35
Jehan Mubarak not out 			37
Chanaka Wijesinghe c Puttick b Botha 	 8
Prasanna Jayawardena not out 		16
Extras (b4, lb8, nb3) 			15
TOTAL FOR 4 WICKETS 			200
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15, 2-118, 3-156, 4-171.
BOWLING: M. Zondeki 6-0-27-1, D. Styen 9-2-37-1,
 J. Botha 22.2-1-53-1, J. van der Wath 5-0-25-0,
  P. Adams 3-0-16-0, J. Ontong 7-1-30-1.