Thilan, Malinda crack unbeaten centuries for Sri Lanka 'A'

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Skipper Thilan Samaraweera and Malinda Warnapura scored two brilliant unbeaten centuries to put Sri Lanka 'A' in a strong position on the opening day of their first four day unofficial test match against the touring Bangladesh 'A' team which commenced at the Colts CC grounds in Havelock Park yesterday.

The Sri Lanka 'A' team batting first after having won the toss finished the day with a huge 335 for the loss of just two wickets. Left hander Warnapura had completed a trail blazing 177 not out while his captain Samaraweera remained unbeaten on 129. Their unfinished third wicket partnership is worth a massive 313 runs.

The pair came together at a difficult stage of the innings after Sri Lanka 'A' had lost both openers Michael van Dort and Mahela Udawatte quite cheaply. But Warnapura and Samaraweera steadied the innings beautifully and consolidated their position through some intelligent batting.

Sri Lanka 'A' managed to score just 65 runs during the first session as they experienced some anxious moments following the early setback. But once Warnapura and Samaraweera got their eye in runs began to flow quite smoothly as they added a further 135 runs between lunch and tea.

Warnapura made good use of some untidy fielding from the opposition to reach his century from 191 balls and 236 minutes with the help of one six and a dozen of boundaries. In contrast Samaraweera batted more cautiously and reached the three figure mark with the aid of just nine fours having occupied the crease for 287 minutes.

This pair completely dominated the final session as they brought up the three hundred run partnership for the third wicket in 330 minutes of batting time. Bangladesh 'A' team decided to take the new ball immediately after 81 overs but they just could not find a way of breaking this partnership.

Warnapura have so far occupied the crease for a marathon 366 minutes and his unbeaten 177 was studded with one six and 21 hits to the ropes. He also bettered his previous highest first class score of 149 not out. Skipper Samaraweera finished the day on 129 not out from 346 minutes having struck ten boundaries.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka 'A' team coach Chandika Hathurusinghe praised the two centurions Warnapura and Samaraweera for their magnificent performances with the bat. He said that both batted well according to the situation and the manner in which they build up their innings was really outstanding.

Hathurusinghe the former Sri Lanka opening batsman said that his team will be looking for a total of exceeding four hundred runs in an attempt to pressurize the opposition on the second and the third days. He said that the wicket is expected to take some spin on the final day and did not want to bat for a second time.

SRI LANKA ‘A’ 1ST INNINGS
M. van Dort c Pavel b Hussain  		 10
M. Udawatte c Mashud b Hussain 		  5
M. Warnapura not out 			177
T. Samaraweera not out			129 
Extras 					 14
TOTAL (for 2 wickets) 			335

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7, 2-22
To bat: K. Silva, C. Kapugedera, J. Mubarak, U. Chandana, A. Ganegama,
 I. Amarasinghe and S. de Silva.
BOWLING: Nazamul Hussain 15-1-57-2, Talhar Jubai 15-2-48-0, 
Nadif Chowdhury 5-2-12-0, Enamul Haque 20-1-89-0, 
Mahmubulla Rayad 19-0-60-0, Mehrab Hossain 11-1-44-0, 
Tushar Imran 5-0-22-0.
BANGLADESH: Tushar Imran, Khaled Mashud, Nazimuddin, Mehrab Hossain,
Jahirul Islam, Hossain Pavel, Nadif Chowdhury, Enamul Haque, 
Mahmubulla Rayad, Nazmul Hossain and Talhar Jubair.