England Lions celebrate the dismissal of Nishan Madushka who was caught by Tom Abell (fourth right)

Sri Lanka ‘A’ opener Lasith Croospulle rejoices after reaching his century

Barmy Army fan Rob Lewis cheers England Lions from the Galle Fort

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Following closely on the heels of Nishan Madushka, Lasith Croospulle who opened the batting with him for SLC Board XI in the three-day warm-up match against touring England Lions, carved out a splendid century for Sri Lanka ‘A’ on the opening day of the second unofficial 4-day test at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Both these openers scored centuries in the 3-day warm-up game, Madushka in the first innings and Croospulle in the second, where he spearheaded a successful run chase of 309 with a marvellous hundred (116).

In the first unofficial test of the ongoing series Madushka continued his magnificent form of the season with a double century (241) to put pressure on the selectors for a place in the Test squad to New Zealand. Notwithstanding that, yesterday Croospulle stroked his way to an unbeaten 122 off 109 balls courtesy of 16 fours and three sixes as Sri Lanka ‘A’ who won the toss and took first lease of the wicket ended a truncated first day, cut short by rain on 190-3.

Sri Lanka already have two established openers in captain Dimuth Karunaratne and Oshada Fernando (who scored 114 in the first unofficial test) and the most the selectors can do is to pick an additional opener for the two Tests in New Zealand. The form Madushka has displayed so far he is most likely to get the nod ahead of Croospulle, who could consider himself unfortunate if he is not picked.

Yesterday, Madushka was shaping up for another big innings scoring 22 off 42 balls out of an opening stand of 59 with Croospulle when Josh Tongue found the edge of his bat for second slip Tom Abell to pouch the catch.

Nuwanidu Fernando helped raise the total to 142 before he was trapped lbw by Sam Cook for 22. England Lions also had another success seven runs later when Kamindu Mendis (6) mistimed a drive off Matthew Fisher and offered a simple catch to Tongue at mid-on. Soon after Mendis’ dismissal play was interrupted for 32 minutes for rain and when it resumed, skipper Nipun Dananjaya (14*) and Croospulle carried the total to 190 before another heavy shower put paid to any further chances of play drenching the ground.   

The match continues on its second day today.     

Scores: Sri Lanka ‘A’ 190-3 at close (Nishan Madushka 22, Lasith Croospulle 122*, Nuwanidu Fernando 22) v England Lions

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