The reshuffled Sri Lankan batting line-up for the second innings came up trumps as the top three batsmen went past fifties while Angelo Mathews managed 37 runs on the final day of the tour game against South African Invitation XI.
The somewhat fragile batting line up of the Lankan team showed resilience as a reshuffled top four came good on the final day.
Sri Lanka made drastic changes that saw Upul Tharanga open the batting alongside Kusal Janith Perera. The duo put on 91 runs for the first wicket partnership before Tharanga retired out for a well compiled 51 off 87 balls.
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Kusal Janith was the next to retire out as he made his way for 50 runs of 77 balls which included 8 fours. Coming in at number three, Dinesh Chandimal made a quick fire 60 off just 52 balls with 9 fours and one maximum.
Angelo Mathew made up for his first innings duck as he scored 37 run in a rather typical Angelo Mathews type of innings. The 37 took 52 balls and included 6 fours as he was dismissed off the last ball of play on the final day.
Kusal Mendis was the only batsman to fail in the second innings as he was dismissed for just 2 runs off the slow left arm bowling of Bjorn Fortuin.
Earlier in the day the home team added just 4 runs to their overnight total as Nuwan Pradeep ran through the tail within two overs of the start of play.
Sri Lanka will be hoping their batting keeps up the momentum prior to the first test scheduled to begin on Boxing Day (26th Dec).
Brief Scores
Sri Lankans – 373 all out in 98.5 overs : (Silva 80, Karunarathne 71, De Silva 62, K. Mendis 51, Duanne Olivier 4/54 George Linde 3/85)
SA Invit XI – 289 all out in 69.5 overs : (Leus du Plooy 142, Lahiru Kumara 3/36, Nuwan Pradeep 3/41 Angelo Mathews 2/15, Dilruwan Perera 2/ 22)
Sri Lankans 2nd Innings – 212/5 in 47.1 overs : (Dinesh Chandimal 60, Kusal Janith Perera 51, Upul Tharanga 50, Bjorn Fortuin 2/36)
