Lanka 'A' wrap up one day series

by Chris Dhambarage

Sri Lanka 'A' wrapped up the unofficial one day series 3-1 winning the fifth and final game by a convincing margin of 72 runs aginst the touring West Indies 'A' team at the NCC grounds, Maitland Place yesterday.

Sri Lanka 'A' hit up 227 after electing to bat first and then bundled out the visitors for just 155 runs with six overs to spare. The matchwinners for Sri Lanka 'A' was Russel Arnold who played a real captains knock of 69 not out under difficult batting conditions. The left hander held the late order batting together with a tremendous performance stroking six fours and facing 64 balls.

Arnold first put on 62 runs for the third wicket along with opener Upul Tharanga who was run out for a well compiled 44 from 76 balls having stroked four fours. But it was the fifth wicket partnership of 72 runs from 59 balls between Arnold and Prasanna Jayawardena that really helped Sri Lanka 'A' build up a matchwinning total at the end,

Wicket keeper batsman Jayawardena again batted well for his useful 39 from just 33 balls which included five fours. But Arnold carried on with the good work until the end with the support of the tailenders despite Dave Mohammed capturing four wickets for 23 runs.

The West Indies 'A' never looked like making a match of it after they had collapsed to 55 for 6 even before the half way stage of the game. They lost wickets at regular intervals and failed to build up any good partnerships until Dave Mohammed and Washington added 39 runs for the last wicket which brought some respectability to their total at the end.

Mohammed hit a top score of 43 from 50 balls with the help of three sixes and four fours before he was bowled by Saman Jayantha who picked up the last two wickets of the innings. But the early damage was done by the two fast bowlers Nuwan Soysa and Dilhara Fernando both claiming two wickets each.

SRI LANKA 'A' 
A. Gunawardena b Samy 			04
U. Tharanga run out 			44
S. Jayantha c Samy b Kelly 		03
C. Wijesinghe c Samy b Mohammed 	24
R. Arnold not out 			69
P. Jayawardena c Maraj b Washington 	39
D. Lokuhettige c Bough b Washington 	04
K. Lokuarachchi c Bough b Mohammed 	11
N. Soysa c Ganga b Washington 		01
S. Weerakoon b Mohammed 		04
D. Fernando c Bernard b Mohammed 	05
Extras (b4, lb6, w9) 			19
TOTAL all out in 49.4 overs 		227

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13, 2-20, 3-82, 4-103, 5-175, 
6-186, 7-208, 8-209, 9-214

WEST INDIES 'A' 
L. Simmons b Soysa 			01
S. Chattergonne c Tharanga b Soysa 	16
D. Ganga c Arnold b Fernando 		10
M. Samuels b Lokuhettige 		01
D. Bernard c Gunawardena b Fernando 	12
I. Maraj lbw b Weerakoon 		05
C. Bough run out 			09
R. Kelly c Soysa b Lokuarachchi 	20
D. Samy b Jayantha 			21
D. Mohammed lbw b Jayantha 		43
G. Washington not out 			04
Extras (b1, lb4, nb4, w4) 		13
TOTAL all out in 43.4 overs 		155

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7, 2-24, 3-29, 4-42, 5-55, 6-55, 
7-73, 8-97, 9-116 
BOWLING: Soysa 6-1-22-2, Lokuhettige 7-2-17-1, 
Fernando 6-0-16-2, Weerakoon 8-3-32-1, 
Lokuarachchi 8-1-32-1, Jayantha 8.3-0-31-2.