The England Lions recorded their first win in the fourth ODI game of the on-going five match unofficial ODI series worked off at the CCC grounds in Colombo today(9).
The hosts won the toss and batting first were given a brilliant start by the top order as they were sitting pretty at 172/2 in the 30th over. Sadeera Samarawickrama made a fluent half century while useful contributions came from Danushka Gunathilaka(44), Ron Chandraguptha(33) and Charith Asalanka(34).
The Lankans collapsed dramatically from then on as they lost their last eight wickets for the additions of just 70 runs. Chathuranga de Silva was the only man to provide some resistance low down the order as he ran out of partners to be unbeaten on 33*. Toby Roland-Jones and Graeme White picked up three wickets apiece for the visitors.
The England Lions had an inauspicious start to their chase when Vikum Sanjaya removed both openers in the fifth over of their innings. Stylish right handed batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond along with Tom Alsop put on 200 runs for the third wicket in quick time to put the visitors back on track. Alsop was unfortunate to miss out on his century falling agonizingly close(96) but his partner went on to make exactly 100 in 111 balls inclusive of 12 boundaries.
Chathuranga de Silva gave some hope for the hosts with a couple of late strikes but it wasn’t enough to stop the Englishmen recording a convincing five wicket win with 16 balls to spare.
Sri Lanka A: 242 (46.5) Sadeera Samarawickrama 54, Danushka Gunathilaka 44, Charith Asalanka 34, Chaturanga de Silva 33*, Ron Chandraguptha 33, Graeme White 3/53, Toby Roland-Jones 3/58, Liam Livingstone 2/41
vs
England Lions: 246/5 (47.2) Daniel Bell-Drummond 100, Tom Alsop 96, Vikum Sanjaya 2/26, Chaturanga de Silva 2/42
