Sri Lanka ‘A’ cruised to a 7 wicket win over West Indies in the first 4 day game played between the two teams at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
West Indies managed to add 10 runs to their overnight score before being dismissed for 175.
Earlier in the game, West Indies won the toss and elected to bat and managed 276 in their 1st innings. Vishaul Singh impressed with the bat, scoring 96 for the visitors while Captain Shamarh Brooks made a half century, scoring 65.
Dimuth Karunarathne scored a valuable 131 as he came into the game under pressure with a couple of failures in the past few Test matches. Kusal Janith Perera and Niroshan Dickwella were the other batsmen to pass the 50 run mark for Sri Lanka A as they managed 87 and 59 respectively.
With a 110 run deficit in front of them, the visitors found themselves in a tricky situation as they fell to 75/4, with their top order sent packing, early in the innings. Vishaul Singh put up some resistance as he battled hard for his 46, but once Singh was dismissed with the score on 116 it was all one way traffic. West Indies ended day 3 on 165 for 9 and Sri Lanka needed a single wicket on day 4 to wrap the innings up.
Lakshan Sandakan managed to pick up the final West Indian wicket as he finished with impressive figures of 4 for 51 in 27.2 overs.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ were left with a diminutive target of 66 to get on the final day to wrap up the first Unofficial Test. Captain Karunaratne took the initiative as he scored the bulk of the runs to lead the hosts to a comfortable 7 wicket win.
Brief Scores
West Indies A – 276 all out in 86.4 overs: Vishaul Singh 96, Shamarh Brooks 65, Kemar Roach 45, Kieran Powell 36, Asela Gunarathne 3/27, Asitha Fernando 2/35, Charith Asalanka 2/53.
Sri Lanka A – 386 all out in 104.5 overs: Dimuth Karunarathne 131, Kusal Janith Perera 87, Niroshan Dickwella 59, Asela Gunarathne 38, Rahkeem Cornwell 8/108.
West Indies A (2nd inn) – 175 all out in 79.2 overs: John Campbell 22, Shamarh Brooks 28, Vishaul Singh 46, Gudakesh Motie 34, Lakshan Sandakan 4/51, Asela Gunarathne 2/30, Asitha Fernando 2/16, Charith Asalanka 2/27.
Sri Lanka A (2nd inn) – 67 for 3 in 20.3 overs: Dimuth Karunarathne 39, Lahiru Thirimanne 21, Keon Joseph 2/17
Result: Sri Lanka A beat West Indies A by 7 wickets.
