Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dimuth Karunaratne made unbeaten centuries on day two to put Sri Lanka A in control against the England Lions in Dambulla today.
Earlier in the day Malinda Pushpakumara picked up his eighth wicket of the innings to bowl out the visitors for 353 with an addition of just 14 runs to their overnight score.
Sri Lanka A then lost three early wickets in their turn and were precariously placed at 3/30 before the duo of Samarawickrama and Karunaratne put on an unbroken stand of 303 for the fourth wicket as Sri Lanka closed day two on 333/3.
Opener Karunaratne made 140* off 216 balls inclusive of 15 fours while the more aggressive Samarawickrama, who is also on his A team debut, struck 25 boundaries in his 177* off 219 balls. He was also the only player to cross the magical 1000 run mark in the recently concluded premier league tier A tournament in Sri Lanka.
The three batsman to fall early were Udara Jayasundara(00), Ron Chandraguptha(01) and Sandun Weerakkody(14). Tom Curran, Toby Roland-Jones and Ollie Rayner picked up a wicket apiece for the visitors.
England Lions353 (97.5) Liam Livingstone 105, Tom Westley 68, Keaton Jennings 44, Ben Foakes 30, Malinda Pushpakumara 8/128
vs
Sri Lanka A333/3 (79) Sadeera Samarawickrama 177*, Dimuth Karunaratne 140*
