Udawatte shines in rain hit game
CRICKET: Opener Mahela Udawatte hit an entertaining half century to
brighten up another gloomy day as the touring Bangladesh team drew their
three day warm up match against the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team at the Colts
Cricket Club ground in Havelock Park yesterday.
The dashing left hander hit a run a ball knock of 53 as the home side
reached an impressive 170 for 4 in their first innings before heavy rain
again washed out the final session after Bangladesh had declared at
their overnight score of 245 for 8.
Udawatte plundered the Bangladesh attack to all parts of the ground
with most of his runs been scored under fading light.
He made his intentions quite clear from the very start and figured in
an opening stand of 61 runs from just 8.3 overs along with his partner
Michael van Dort after the match had commenced at 11.00 a.m. due to
overnight rain.
Udawatte raced to his half century while gloriously cover driving
Abdur Razzak for his eighth boundary having hoisted the same bowler for
a massive six in the previous delivery.
His six in fact resulted in a slight hold up in the match as the ball
went sailing over the Colts CC pavilion into the main road and had to be
replaced with a another ball.
Udawatte however made his exit almost immediately as Razzak took his
revenge by capturing the key wicket in the same over.
Nevertheless this was a fantastic effort from young Udawatte who has
been a consistent run getter in the past for the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team. He
also put on 57 runs for the second wicket with skipper Thilan
Samaraweera.
Earlier Michael van Dort also made a fine impact as he stroked five
boundaries during his knock of 38.
The tall left hander who is set to open the batting for Sri Lanka in
the first test match, played some elegant strokes on both sides of the
wicket before edging a Syed Rasel delivery into the hands of wicket
keeper Khaled Mashud.
Skipper Thilan Samaraweera also made a good start and looked set for
a big score. But after reaching 30 he lost his concentration and had his
stumps disturbed while attempting a big stroke. He occupied the crease
for 84 minutes and stroked four boundaries.
Wicket keeper batsman Prasanna Jayawardena also struck five
boundaries during his unbeaten knock of 31 before a heavy shower brought
an end to the proceedings at around 2.45 p.m.
This was the only warm up game for Bangladesh ahead of their three
test series against Sri Lanka which gets underway on Monday at the SSC
grounds in Maitland Place.
Bangladesh 1st innings
Javed Omar run out 34
S. Nafees c Mubarak b Prasad 16
Rajin Saleh lbw b Herath 21
Habibul Bashar lbw b Ganegama 63
M’ Ashraful c Jayawardena b Herath 37
Shakib Al Hasan c Udawatte b Herath 0
Khaled Mashud lbw b Welagedera 8
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 33
Mohammad Sharif lbw b Welagedera 0
Shahadat Hossain not out 24
Extras (b5, lb2, nb2) 9
Total for 8 wickets declared in 104 overs 245
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-70, 3-73, 4-148,
5-148, 6-186, 7-198, 8-198
Bowling: A. Ganegama 18-2-52-1, C. Welagedera 21-5-59-2,
D. Prasad12-6-17-1, R. Herath 26-7-63-3,
K. Lokuarachchi 14-4-22-0, D. Perera 13-5-25-0.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ 1st innings
Michael van Dort c Mashud b Rasel 38
Mahela Udawatte b Razzak 53
Thilan Samaraweera b Razzak 30
Jehan Mubarak b Sharif 11
Prasanna Jayawardena not out 31
Thilina Kandambi not out 1
Extras (6nb) 6
Total for 4 wickets in 36.3 overs 170
Fall of wickets: 1-61, 2-118, 3-126, 4-161.
Bowling: Syed Rasel 8-0-48-1, Mohammad Hossain 9-0-48-0,
Mohammad Sharif .3-3-25-1, Abdur Razzak 10-1-48-2,
Shakib Al Hasan 2-1-1-0.
|
