England Lions took control of the 1st unofficial test between the hosts Sri Lanka ‘A’ and England Lions after a disciplined bowling effort led by Chris Woakes in Pallekelle at the end of 2nd day’s play.
England Lions resumed their 1st innings from their overnight score of 299/9. Last pair of Graham Onions and Tymal Mills added another 31 runs before Dhammika Prasad took the final wicket. Sri Lanka ‘A’ team got off to a disastrous start when England test discard, Chris Woakes took the wickets of Udara Jayasundara and Bhanuka Rajapakshe in the first over and soon made Sri Lanka ‘A’ batsman toil hard for their runs as England Lions fast bowlers displayed a classic show of accurate seam bowling to restrict the hosts to 61/7.
All-rounder Chathuranga De Silva and fast bowler Dhammika Prasad gave some respect to the home team total as the pair put on a fighting 64 runs for the 8th wicket. Dhammika Prasad steered the team total to 171 with a counter attacking half century as he was the last batsman to dismiss. Skipper Chris Woakes was the pick of the bowlers taking 4 wickets for 45 runs while off spinner Moeen Ali took 2 wickets.
England Lions started their 2nd innings with a 159 runs lead. Openers put on a patient 40 runs for the 1st wicket before the effective spin duo of Tharindu Kaushal and Chathuranga De Silva managed to give their team a chance of redemption as they took 4 wickets between them to end the day’s play as England Lions sitting pretty with a lead of 264 with two more days to go.
Brief Scores :
England Lions (1st inn) – 330 all out in 90.1 overs : James Taylor 70, Moeen Ali 62, Varun Chopra 58, Scott Borthwick 35, Dhammika Prasad 4/68, Tharindu Kaushal 3/95, Chathuranga De Silva 2/44.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ (2nd inn) – 171 all out in 48 overs : Dhammika Prasad 50, Chathuranga De Silva 47, Upul Tharanga 30, Chris Woakes 4/45, Moeen Ali 2/16.
England Lions (2nd inn) – 105/4 in 32 overs : Alex Lees 33, Varun Chopra 24, Chathuranga De Silva 3/31.
