27-year old right-handed batsman Roshen Silva stroked a brilliant unbeaten century for Sri Lanka ‘A’ against Durham CC on day one in their four-day tour match which started at Chester-Le-Street on Sunday.
Former Josephian middle-order batsman reached his 17th first-class century off 200 balls and played the anchor role for the visitors as they posted 273 for 6 at close of play.
Earlier after opting to bat first, Sri Lanka ‘A’ lost Udara Jayasundera quite early for just one run but Madawa Warnapura and Mahela Udawatte got good starts of 34 and 26 respectively before being dismissed in the first session.
Skipper Ashan Priyanjan and young wicket-keeper batsman Minod Bhanuka failed to make amends with the bat as the visitors were 119 for 5 at one stage.
Silva was then joined by left-arm spinning all-rounder Sachith Pathirana who slammed a quick-fire 66-ball 51 with 7 fours and a six and added the much-needed tempo to the Lankan innings.
Left-handed Pathirana became fast-bowler Gurjit Sandhu’s 3rd victim as the productive 80-run stand for the 6th wicket ended in the 64th over of the innings.
Silva and no.8 batsman Prabhath Jayasuriya batted positively till close of play and remained unbeaten while adding 74 runs.
Silva slated as the best domestic performer in the recent-past due to his 50+ first-class average continues to impress and will look to make a case for the Sri Lanka’s Test no.4 spot for the upcoming Australian Test series.
The match will be continued tomorrow.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ – 273/6 in 86 overs: Madawa Warnapura 34, Mahela Udawatte 26, Roshen Silva 103*, Sachith Pathirana 51, Prabhath Jayasuriya 30*, Gurjit Sandhu 3/50.
