‘Test’ set for enthralling final day weather permitting

Sri Lanka ‘A’ spinner Laksitha Manasinghe who took five wickets flanked by team mates Praveen Jayawickrama and Vishwa Fernando who accounted for the remaining five South Africa ‘A’ wickets

•  Sri Lanka ‘A’ lead overall by 226 runs

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Minod Bhanuka and Pasindu Sooriyabandara batting during their unbroken stand of 157

The second and final 4-day unofficial cricket test between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’ is poised for an engrossing finish on the fourth and final day today at the P. Sara Oval provided the weather keeps away and allows a full day’s play.

By the close of the penultimate day, Sri Lanka ‘A’ having dismissed South Africa ‘A’ in their first innings for 294, had racked up 230-2 by the close brought forward by bad light with 23 overs of the day unutilised, to hold onto an overall lead of 226.

The feature of Sri Lanka ‘A’s batting in the second innings was the unbroken third wicket stand between Sri Lanka cricketer Minod Bhanuka and former Sri Lanka U-19 player Pasindu Sooriyabandara. The pair has so far put on 157 runs to lay the foundation for Sri Lanka ‘A’ to make a declaration today and set South Africa ‘A’ with a challenging target to chase and win if they are to level the two-match series. Sri Lanka ‘A’ lead the series 1-0 having won the first ‘test’ by 160 runs at Pallekele.

Bhanuka, a naturally attacking batsman with a first-class cricket strike rate of 71.75 played a rather diffident innings using up 135 balls for 79* (5 fours, 4 sixes) at a low strike rate of 58.51 in comparison to his more liberal partner Sooriyabandara who made 73* off 97 balls (8 fours, 1 six) at a strike rate of 75.25. The pair came together after openers Nishan Madushka (40) and Lasith Croospulle (30) had figured in a stand of 62.   For the first time in the series Senuran Muthusamy playing in his 100th first-class match has so far gone wicketless – his 26 overs yielding 99 runs. Prior to the Sri Lanka ‘A’s second innings, Muthusamy had captured 18 wickets in three innings at an average of 15.33.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ made short work of the South Africa ‘A’ tail picking up the last four wickets for seven runs within the space of 27 balls with off-spinner Lakshitha Manasinghe once again amongst the wickets ending with his tenth five-fer in first-class cricket (5/48). He also took five wickets in South Africa ‘A’s first innings of the first ‘test’. 

Kyle Verreynne was left unbeaten on 38 scored off 50 balls (2 fours, 2 sixes) as the rest of the tail crumbled to spin with Manasinghe and Praveen Jayawickrama both sharing the spoils with two wickets apiece.

Scores

• Sri Lanka ‘A’ 290 and 230-2 at close (Nishan Madushka 40, Lasith Croospulle 30, Minod Bhanuka 79*, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 73*).
• South Africa ‘A’ 294 (o/n 287-6) (Tristan Stubbs 117, Keegan Petersen 50, Zubayr Hamza 46, Kyle Verreynne 38*, Vishwa Fernando 3/45, Praveen Jayawickrama 2/102, Lakshitha Manasinghe 5/48).