Massive victory for Sri Lanka ‘A’

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: The Sri Lanka ‘A’ team completed a rousing 284 run victory over the touring Bangladesh ‘A’ team on the fourth and final day of their first 4 day unofficial test match concluded at the Colts CC grounds in Havelock Park yesterday.

The visitors chasing an improbable victory target of 517 runs were dismissed for 233 runs in their second innings shortly after lunch on the fourth and final day.

The final result of course was quite evident from the moment Bangladesh ‘A’ collapsed to 170 for 5 after having made a promising start to their run chase. They resumed their second innings at 110 for 3 and had the task of surviving the final three sessions in an attempt to force a draw.

But the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team bowlers stuck to their task through some penetrative bowling and captured wickets at regular intervals. Opening bowler Sujeewa de Silva was the most outstanding where he picked up a four wicket haul following his three wicket burst in the first innings.

The dynamic paceman from the champion CCC team struck two vital blows during the first session to put aside any hopes of a Bangladesh recovery. He removed Hossain Pavel and Nadif Chowdhury with two beautiful deliveries as the visitors lost two important wickets with the total on 170.

Skipper Tushar Imran made a desperate attempt to pull his side from a total collapse by hammering a fighting half century from 68 deliveries with the aid of eleven boundaries.

He also put on 51 useful runs for the fourth wicket along with Nazamul Hossain.

There was another stubborn resistance from the tailenders Mahmudulla Ryad and wicket keeper batsman Khaled Mashud with the pair putting on 42 runs for the eighth wicket. But Sujeewa de Silva came back for a fresh spell to send back Mahmudullah while leg spinner Upul Chandana added the finishing touches by capturing the last two wickets.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka ‘A’ team coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said that he is extremely pleased with the teams performance where they excelled in all three departments of the game. He said that both Malinda Warnapura and skipper Thilan Samaraweera really batted well and the fielders were always on the alert.

Hathurusinghe the former Sri Lanka opening batsman also commended the performances of the three fast bowlers for a magnificent effort especially for dismissing the opposition twice cheaply on a batting friendly wicket. Even though Sri Lanka ‘A’ wrapped up the game quite convincingly with nearly two sessions to spare Hathurusinghe said that winning was not their main priority.

Our main target was to give all the players the maximum exposure and allow them to learn and play under different situations. We did not enforce the follow on although we had a big first innings lead because we thought we should give the openers another chance to prove themselves.

Hathurusinghe said that by not enforcing the follow on, they were able to give their fast bowlers a much needed rest and they looked really fresh while bowling in the second innings.

On the fielding side he said that they had targeted at least two run outs per match and that was their goal at the start of the series but they were able to perform even better in this match.

The Sri Lanka ‘A’ team coach hoped that the middle order would continue their excellent form into the second 4 day unofficial test match which would commence on Sunday at the CCC grounds in Maitland Crescent.

SRI LANKA ‘A’ 1ST INNINGS
(for 6 wickets decl) 547
BANGLADESH ‘A’ 1ST INNINGS
(all out 163)
SRI LANKA A 2ND INNINGS  
(for 4 wickets decl 132)          
BANGLADESH A 2ND INNINGS
(target: 517 runs)  
Jahurul Islam c Ganegama b de Silva	13
Mehrab Hossain jnr run out		41
Nazimuddin c Chandana b Amerasinghe	45
Nazmul Hossain c Ganegama b Warnapura	11
Tushar Imran  run out			54
Hossain Pavel lbw b de Silva		 0
Nadif Chowdhury b de Silva		 0
Khaled Mashud not out			11
Mahmudullah Ryad c Chandana b de Silva	38
Enamul Haque st. de Silva b Chandana	13
Talhar Jubair c Kapugedera b Chandana    0
Extras					 7
TOTAL ALL OUT			       233
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-30, 2-100, 3-109,
 		 4-160,	 5-170, 6-170, 
		 7-171, 8-213, 9-233
BOWLING: WCA Ganegama 12-2-37-0, WRS de Silva 18-3-69-4,
 	 MKDI Amerasinghe 12-7-27-1, UDU Chandana 21.4-8-70-2,
    	 J Mubarak  3-1-8-0, BSM Warnapura 10-6-18-1.