Shanaka blitz in vain as SL ‘A’ fall short

Bangladesh ‘A’ edged out Sri Lanka ‘A’ by 2 runs in the 1st Unofficial ODI played at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today.

Sri Lanka A skipper, Thisara Perera, won the toss and elected to bowl first with just 3 specialist bowlers in his team.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ Playing XI: Shehan Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Thirimanne, Ashan Priyanjan , Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Sammu Ashan, Dasun Shanaka, Thisara Perera (c), Malinda Pushpakumara, Shehan Madushanka, Nishan Peiris

Bangladesh ‘A’ Playing XI: Mizanur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Zakir Hasan, Fazle Mahmud, Mohammad Mithun (c & wk), Ariful Haque, Al-Amin, Sunzamul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Khaled Ahmed, Shoriful Islam

National caps, Soumya Sarkar and Mizanur Rahman opened the innings for Bangladesh ‘A’. The pair did a decent job by seeing off the new ball which was shared by the quick Shehan Madushanka and swinging Dasun Shanaka. The first wicket to fall was that of Sarkar (24) when the Bangladeshi score was on 42, in the 13th over. However it was Shehan Jayasuriya, the off-spinner who took the first wicket.

Read : Malinda Pushpakumara seals emphatic win for Sri Lanka ‘A’

The 3rd wicket partnership was also a quiet 35-run stand, this time between Rahman and one-down bat Zakir Hasan who fell to Malinda Pushpakumara for 18.

Rahman once again was involved in a 40 plus partnership, this time with Fazle Mahmud for the 3rd wicket at a rather quicker run-rate. Rahman was dismissed to Shehan Madushanka after scoring a 107-ball 67.

Next batsman in was Mohammad Mithun, the Bangladeshi captain. He together with Mahmud built the most important partnership of the innings. The duo added 95 runs in just 14 and a half overs. This partnership which none of the Sri Lankan bowlers were able to break, eventually was broken courtesy a run out by Dasun Shanaka.

Unfortunately for the Lankans, Ariful Haque who came in after that long awaited wicket scored a quick-fire 47 in just 22 balls with 4 sixes and 3 fours. His inning was the exact kind of innings the hosts needed to boost their scoring rate, which in return helped them finish on 280/7 in the allotted 50 overs.

Ariful was part of 2 rapid partnerships for the 5th and 6th wickets with his skipper and Al-Amin respectively. The 5th wicket partnership was 42 in 22 balls while the 6th wicket stand was an 8-ball 21.

Madushanka, Shanaka, Jayasuriya, Perera and Pushpakumara all picked up 1 wicket each while off-spinner Nishan Peiris was wicket-less. He also was expensive with an economy rate of 6.77. Madushanka also went for more than 6 runs per over while the others managed to keep their economy rates under 6. Pushpakumara was the only bowler to bowl all 10 overs and he ended with an impressive economy rate of 4.40.

Sadeera Samarawickrema and Upul Tharanga started the chase for the visitors. Samarawickrema (3) couldn’t come out of the bad patch he has hit during the 4-day matches against the Bangladesh ‘A’ early in the tour as he got out in the 2nd over of the inning.

Read : Thisara Perera to lead Sri Lanka ‘A’

It was Shoriful Islam’s 1st of 3 wickets. His new ball partner Khaled Ahmed struck in the very next over with the important wicket of Tharanga (10), which was his 1st of 4. The 2 Cambrians Lahiru Thirimanne and Shehan Jayasuriya then added 52 runs for the 3rd wicket in 12 overs before Jayasuriya (20) ran himself out.

Soon after, the hero for Bangladesh with the bat Ariful got rid of Thirimanne for 29. After that Ashan Priyanjan and Dasun Shanaka put on a valuable partnership of 84 runs in 16.5 overs to take the Lankans closer to achieve the Bangladeshi target.

Ariful then took his 2nd wicket to brake the threatening partnership by cleaning up Priyanjan for 42 denying him a well-made fifty. Thisara Perera (22) then came in to join Shanaka, where the duo added 45 in just 5.5 overs. Sri Lanka inched even closer when Shanaka added 42 more runs in just 5 overs with Sammu Ashan for the 7th wicket.

Unfortunately both of them were dismissed in the space of 3 balls leaving the last 3 batsmen with too much to do. Shoriful Islam pushed the Lankans even further from winning with another wicket, just 2 balls after Ashan’s wicket.

Shanaka, when dismissed had scored 78 runs with 6 sixes and 2 fours. He needed exactly 78 balls for this inning which almost won the match for his team.

With just 1 wicket remaining and needing 37 runs to win, Shehan Madushanka produced a gem of an inning hitting 21 valuable runs in 12 balls with 3 sixes.

Khaled Aahmed held his nerve and dismissed Shehan Madushanka in the last delivery of the inning handing the visitors a narrow 2-run defeat.

Brief Scores:

Ban ‘A’: 280/7 (50 Overs) Mizanur Rahman 67, Fazle Mahmud 59, Ariful Haque 47, Moahammad Mithun 44, Dasun Shanaka 1/24, Shehan Jayasuriya 1/39, Malinda Pushpakumara 1/44, Thisara Perera 1/44, Shehan Madushanka 1/61

SL ‘A’: 278 (50 Overs) Dasun Shanaka 78, Ashan Priyanjan 42, Khaled Ahmed 4/72, Shoriful Islam 3/54

Bangladesh A won by 2 runs