Sri Lanka 'A' collapse
BY CHRIS Dhambarage
KANDY - The Sri Lanka 'A' team after a promising start collapsed to
186 for 5 in their first innings at tea on the opening day of their
first 4 day unofficial Test match against the touring New Zealand 'A'
team played at the Asgiriya International Stadium in Kandy yesterday.
When the players returned to the dressing room for early tea due to a
heavy shower Sri Lanka 'A' were in a spot of trouble with Prasanna
Jayawardena on 14 and Gayan Wijekoon not out on five making a desperate
attempt to repair the early damage.
Sri Lanka 'A' threw away another great chance of piling up a big
score after the top three batsmen had provided them with an excellent
start. Skipper Avishka Gunawardena justified his decision to bat first
by putting on exactly fifty runs in an opening stand with Ian Daniel.
The dashing left-hander hit a top score of 73 from just 85 balls with
sixteen fours. Ian Daniel played a good supporting role and his knock of
22 included five fours.
Upul Tharanga joined Avishka Gunawardena and the pair set the pace
for a good first innings total by adding 82 runs for the second wicket.
Tharanga played some beautiful cover drives and was well set for a
big score before he became Chris Martin's first victim for a superb
knock of 51 which came in 85 balls with one six and ten fours.
Sri Lanka 'A' somewhat lost their way from thereonwards losing three
quick wickets for the addition of just nine runs.
New Zealand 'A' certainly fought back magnificently with Chris Martin
capturing three wickets during his second spell. He deceived both Harsha
Vithana and Thilina Kandamby with two clever deliveries after having
earlier picked up the important wicket of Upul Tharanga.
SRI LANKA ‘A’ 1ST INNINGS
Avishka Gunawardena b Harris 73
Ian Daniel c Wiseman b Harris 22
Upul Tharanga c How b C. Martin 51
Harsha Vithana c Hopkings b C. Martin 4
Thilina Kandamby c Papps b C. Martin 7
Prasanna Jayawardena c Hopkings b C. Martin 37
Gayan Wijekoon not out 12
Malinga Bandara not out 9
Extras (b6, lb3, nb1) 10
TOTAL for 6 wickets 225
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-50, 2-132, 3-159,
4-167, 5-168, 6-213.
BOWLING: C. Martin 15.2-6-47-4,
I. O’Brien 11-2-61-0, C. Harris 10-3-45-2,
P. Wiseman 6-2-17-0, B. Martin 13-2-46-0
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