England Lions force a draw in second ‘test’ to share series nil-all

• Madushka, Manasinghe excel for Sri Lanka ‘A’

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka ‘A’ opener Nishan Madushka completed his third century against England Lions in as many matches and off-spinning all-rounder Lakshitha Manasinghe took five wickets, but the touring team held out to force a draw in the second and final 4-day unofficial test which ended at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Left with a target of 284 to chase off a minimum of 52 overs, England Lions struggled to 173-7 in their second innings with the Sri Lanka ‘A’ spinners led by Manasinghe threatening to run through their batting. Manasinghe ended up with figures of five for 61, his eighth five-fer in a first-class career leaving him one short of a century of wickets. Left-arm spinners Praveen Jayawickrama and Lasith Embuldeniya picked up the two remaining wickets.

The result left the two-match series drawn nil-all with the first unofficial test also ending in a draw at the same venue. Both teams will now play an unofficial three-match ODI series starting at the R. Premadasa Stadium on 15 February.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ resuming at their overnight score of 202-3 slumped to 279-7 which included the wicket of Madushka who resumed on 84 and completed his century off 125 balls (16 fours, 1 six) before becoming the first of right-arm fast-medium bowler Josh Tongue’s three victims. Tongue also accounted for captain Nipun Dananjaya (15) and Chamika Karunaratne (for his second duck of the match). Madushka’s previous contributions against England Lions were 150 (rtd out) and 241. Lahiru Udara and Manasinghe staged a recovery with a stand of 79 for the eighth wicket that saw Sri Lanka ‘A’ sneak past the 300-run mark for the second time in the match and post a challenging target of 284 to chase.

Udara scored 63 off 71 balls (8 fours) and Manasinghe 43 off 36 balls (7 fours). Once the partnership was broken there was hardly any resistance from the rest of the batters and Sri Lanka ‘A’ were dismissed for 356 with off-spinner Jack Carson finding an appreciable turn from the surface to pick up four wickets.

Scores

• Sri Lanka ‘A’ 332 and 356 (o/n 202-3) (Nishan Madushka 100, Lasith Croospulle 47, Kamindu Mendis 67, Lahiru Udara 63, Lakshitha Manasinghe 43, Josh Tongue 3/77, Jack Carson 4/94)

• England Lions 405 and 173-7 (Haseeb Hameed 47, Tom Abell 20, Josh Bohannon 34*, Matthew Fisher 22, Lakshitha Manasinghe 5/61)