Only 34 overs were possible on day 2 in the 2nd unofficial Test match between the visiting West Indies ‘A’ and Sri Lanka ‘A’ at Uyanwaththa Stadium in Matara after all of day 1 was washed out due to rainy weather conditions in the island.
No play was possible yesterday as the rain persisted throughout the day but the weather changed drastically as the sun shined through the black clouds on Sunday afternoon as both teams were anxiously waiting for some play. The Windies ‘A’ skipper Carlos Braithwaite won the toss and elected to field first as the match commenced around 2pm local time.
The Lankan opening pair of Upul Tharanga and Dimuth Karunaratne got off to a brisk start but the host captain Tharanga edged behind to wicket-keeper Walton off seamer Miguel Cummins for 16 in the 9th over. One drop batsman Madawa Warnapura failed to grab his chance when he was struck right in front of the stumps by Shannon Gabriel for 7 runs and he was then followed by the in-form Dimuth Karunaratne as Gabriel rattled the stumps as Sri Lanka were 53/3 in 12 overs.
The experienced Jehan Mubarak fell to the off-spin of Shane Shilingford as the Lankans continued their trend of losing wickets at regular intervals. The most promising stand came through Ashan Priyanjan and KithruwanVithanage as both the talented players tried their best of resurrecting the innings with a 48-run partnership for the 5th wicket before Ashan was dismissed by Shilingford for an enterprising 40 runs off 51 balls. Just before the fading light evaded any more play, Sri Lanka lost their promising wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella 1 run as the fighting Kithruwan remained unbeaten on 36 as Sri Lanka were on the edge of the barrel at 137/6 at close of play.
Chief Scores:
Sri Lanka ‘A’ – 137/6 in 34 overs: Dimuth Karunratne 25, Ashan Priyanjan 40, Kithruwan Vithanage 36*, Miguel Cummins 2/29, Shannon Gabriel 2/20.
