Charith Asalanka’s 81 and two composed knocks by Avishka Fernando and Sammu Ashan guided Sri Lanka U19’s to 235 for 6 at stumps on Day 3 of the first youth test at Cambridge.
Charith Asalanka and Avishka Fernando looked good towards latter part of day 2 and they carried on in the morning session of day 3 as well. Skipper Charith Asalanka batted with freedom for his 81 which included 12 boundaries. He missed out on a wonderful century when he was dismissed by Ed Barnes.
Avishka Fernando missed out on a half century but his knock showed promise. England bowlers lacked penetration which allowed new batters to settle down to the conditions and bat freely.
Sammu Ashan and Ashen Bandara guided Lankans to 211 for 4 when the heavens opened up. Sammu was unbeaten on 44 and Ashen Bandara was unbeaten on 12.
Play resumed after more than an hour and Sammu reached a much needed 50 but lost his wicket soon after and he was followed by Navindu Nirmal who scored only 3 runs.
All-rounder Jehan Daniel joined Ashen Bandara at the crease and the pair survived until the umpires called off play due to bad light. Lankans were 235 for 6, trailing by 265 runs with 4 wickets in hand.
Early on, England posted 500 for 9d after they won the toss and elected to bat first. Jehan Daniel finished with figures of 3 for 91 while Lahiru Kumara bagged two wickets with the new ball.
