Dominant England Lions batsmen struck gold once again when they finished off another successful day in their tour of Sri Lanka when they put up 302/5 at stumps on the first day of the 3rd and final unofficial test against the hosts Sri Lanka ‘A’ at R.Premadasa International Cricket Stadium.
Chris Woakes won the toss and elected to bat first on a sunny Wednesday morning. Right arm fast bowler Lahiru Gamage enjoyed early success when he removed the in-form Sam Robson for a duck in the 4th over. Suraj Randiv returning to the national fold trapped Alex Lees when the England Lions total was on 43. Lahiru Gamage castled the last game’s double centurion James Taylor for 14 runs sending jitters down the English camp.
One drop batsman, Varun Chopra guided the England Lions middle order with sensible batting accumulating runs in a calmer approach. Sri Lanka ‘A’ came back into the game when they removed both set batsmen Varun Chopra and Jonny Bairstow in the 2nd session of the first day. Varun Chopra’s 159 ball 83 runs had 7 boundaries and 1 massive six.
England Lions at one stage were in danger of being bowled out before a competitive total but skipper Chris Woakes and Scott Borthwick lifted the their game up to put on an unbroken 130 runs partnership for the 6th wicket. Captain Woakes remained unbeaten on 84 runs while his partner Scott Borthwick crossed the half century in the final over as played the supporting role making 59 runs not out.
Chief Scores
England Lions – 302/5 in 90 overs : Varun Chopra 83, Chris Woakes 84*, Scott Borthwick 59, Lahiru Gamage 2/47.
