Smith and Tongue place England Lions in strong position

Alex Lees and Jamie Smith batting during their unbroken partnership of 112 for England Lions

 England Lions quick Josh Tongue exults taking a five-wicket haul

• Second 4-day unofficial test at Galle

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Wicket-keeper/batsman Jamie Smith smashed an unbeaten 86 off 56 balls inclusive of five sixes and 10 fours to place England Lions in a strong position against Sri Lanka ‘A’ on the second day of the second 4-day unofficial test played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Replying to Sri Lanka ‘A’s first innings of 332, England Lions scored 234-3, to trail by 98 runs with seven wickets in hand. Batting with Smith is Test opener Alex Lees (75* off 82 balls, 8 fours), their unfinished partnership worth 112.

Lees also figured in a valuable 105 runs for the third wicket with Josh Bohannon (54 off 62 balls, 9 fours) to affect an England Lions recovery after they had lost skipper Haseeb Hameed and Tom Abel to Sri Lanka ‘A’ opening bowlers Vishwa Fernando and Karunaratne who took a wicket each in their opening spells.

England Lions fought back through Joshua Tongue to keep Sri Lanka ‘A’ down to a total of 332 after they had resumed from their overnight score of 190-3. Worcestershire right-arm fast-medium bowler Tongue was responsible for the collapse of the Sri Lankan ‘A’ innings finishing with five wickets for 76.

He started the Sri Lankan slide by dismissing centurion Lasith Croospulle for 128 and then followed it up with the wickets of Lahiru Udara (0) and Chamika Karunaratne (0) as the home side slipped to 219-6. He later came back to pick up the wicket of Sri Lanka ‘A’ skipper Nipun Dananjaya for a well-constructed 61 off 104 balls (10 fours) to record his seventh five-fer in first-class cricket.

Lakshitha Manasinghe and Lasith Embuldeniya checked the slide with an eighth wicket stand of 42 that saw Sri Lanka ‘A’ go past the 300-run mark.

Embuldeniya struck seven fours and a six in his entertaining knock of 42 off 55 balls, Manasinghe played a passive role using up 87 balls for 43 that contained two fours and a six.

Seamers Sam Cook and Matthew Fisher were the other productive bowlers for England Lions with two wickets apiece.

The match continues on its third day today.

Scores: 

Sri Lanka ‘A’ 332 (Nishan Madushka 22, Lasith Croospulle 128, Nuwanidu Fernando 22, Nipun Dananjaya 61, Lakshitha Manasinghe 43, Lasith Embuldeniya 42, Sam Cook 2/69, Matthew Fisher 2/83, Josh Tongue 5/76)

England Lions 234-3 at close (Alex Lees 75*, Josh Bohannon 54, Jamie Smith 86*, Vishwa Fernando 2/44)