The two day warm up match between the visiting South African team and Sri Lanka Board XI got underway at the P. Sara Oval today(7).
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It was an evenly fought days play after the hosts won the toss and batted first posting 287 all-out on a sunny morning in Colombo.
The openers Kaushal Silva and Danushka Gunathilaka laid the foundation for a big score with a 84 run opening stand before the latter fell to the leg spin of Shaun von Berg for 53. Silva continued his vigil before a mix up with Angelo Mathews brought an unfortunate end to his brilliant innings of 76.
Tabraiz Shamsi, who was introduced into the attack late in the day, was affective straight away as he ran through the Sri Lankan middle order including the big scalp of Roshen Silva for a 16 ball duck.
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The chinaman was kept at bay by Mathews to a certain extent, as he showed good form ahead of the 1st Test beginning on the 12th. The former Sri Lanka Test skipper who is leading the team in the warm up game was almost at his fluent best stroking 3 towering sixes and 13 fours in an entertaining knock of 92.
He didn’t get a lot of support from the other end as the South African spinners shared 8 wickets among them. Shamsi was impressive with his variations picking up 5/45 and is definitely a contender now for the second spinners slot along with Keshav Maharaj who was rested for this game. Dean Elgar rolled his arm over to chip in with the scalp of Wanindu Hasaranga while von Berg captured two wickets for the Proteas as SLB XI were restricted to 287.
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Dale Steyn who is returning from a lory lay off went wicketless along with Vernon Philander while only Lungi Ngidi got his name on the wickets column among the South African pace battery.
South Africa ended day 1 on 17/1 with Lahiru Gamage sending Aiden Markram on his way for a golden duck while Elgar remain unbeaten on 14*.
