Shiraz, Sooriyabandara help Sri Lanka ‘A’ take winning 3-0 lead

• Five-match unofficial ODI series against Afghanistan ‘A’

Sri Lanka ‘A’ took a winning 3-0 lead in the five-match unofficial ODI series when they beat Afghanistan ‘A’ by four wickets in the third match played at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium, Hambantota yesterday.

Winning the toss and batting first Afghanistan ‘A’ could muster only 185 in 41.2 overs. Sri Lanka ‘A’ fuelled by an unbeaten knock of 84 off 109 balls (9 fours) from Pasindu Sooriyabandara reached the target with 75 balls to spare.

Sri Lanka lost three wickets for 69 in the first power play although they maintained an excellent run rate of nearly seven runs an over. Afghanistan ‘A’s moderate total did not put any pressure on the Sri Lankan batters whose asking rate was 3.72 an over. After maintaining such a high run rate from the beginning of their innings it was plain sailing for the home team.

Sooriyabandara and Sonal Dinusha (35) added 83 for the fifth wicket that more or less sealed the fate of the match in Sri Lanka ‘A’s favour.

Afghanistan ‘A’s batting was rattled by fast bowler Mohamed Shiraz, who took the wickets of their top three batsmen to finish with figures of 3/31. After Chamindu Wijesinghe and Kamil Mishara had picked up a wicket each, spinners Sonal Dinusha and Dushan Hemantha wrapped up the rest of the batting, sharing four wickets between them. Top scorer for Afghanistan ‘A’ was Ziar-ur-Rehman with 36 off 47 balls. The fourth match of the series will be played at the same venue on 5 May. 

- (ST)

Scores: 

Afghanistan ‘A’ 185 (41.2) (Darwish Rasooli 25, Shahidullah 23, Zia-ur-Rehman 36, Mohamed Shiraz 3/31, Sonal Dinusha 2/29, Dushan Hemantha 2/29)

Sri Lanka ‘A’ 186-6 (37.3) (Nishan Madushka 20, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 84*, Sonal Dinusha 35, Bilal Sami 2/43, Mohammad Saleem 3/32)