Nishan Madushka hit an unbeaten 150 as the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI posted 355/9d in reply to the visiting England Lions’ 413/8d on day 2 of the warm-up game between the sides at the R Premadasa in Colombo.
Coming into the day on 93/2, trailing by 320, the home side continued to score at a rapid pace with Madushka reaching his century in the half-hour before the lunch break. He found support from Lahiru Udara, who was unlucky to miss out on a century, falling to off-spinner Jack Carson for 93. The pair put on 170 runs in just 24 overs.
None of the other Sri Lankan batters crossed the 50-run mark but Madushka motored on, batting through to tea to hit 150 before retiring out. The Board XI went from 328/4 to 355/9 before skipper Sahan Arachchige decided to declare while they were still 57 runs behind the Lions’ 1st inning total.
It wasn’t easy going for the Lions in the last session, as the Sri Lankan bowlers managed to keep picking up wickets. Skipper Haseeb Hameed fell to youngster Kavindu Pathiratne once again, before 1st inning centurion Alex Lees retired out to give the other batters more time in the middle.
The runs flowed quickly, but so did the wickets as Arachchige and left-arm spinner Nimesh Vimukthi picked up 2 wickets apiece. The Lions ended Day 2 on 164/8, with a decent lead of 222 runs on the board going into the final day of play.
