Avishka, Upul put Bangladesh to the sword

A Sri Lanka Cricket XI led by hard hitting opener Avishka Gunawardena exposed the frailties in the Bangladesh bowling when they coasted to a comfortable ten-wicket win in a one-day practice match played at De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa yesterday.

Gunawardena led the way with a blistering unbeaten 111 scored off 103 balls inclusive of 16 fours and shared an unbroken opening stand of 239 off 36.1 overs with Upul Tharanga as Sri Lanka Cricket XI overhauled the Bangladesh total of 233-8 with ease.

Tharanga also completed a fine century remaining 104 not out scored off 116 balls. He struck four sixes and nine fours in his innings. The pair tore into the Bangladesh bowling and thrashed them around the park.

Abdul Razzaq came for a lot of punishment conceding 69 runs off eight overs while Aftab Ahmed (0/29 off 3 overs) and skipper Habibul Bashar (0/25 off 2 overs) were the others to suffer.

Rajesh Saleh (53) was top scorer for Bangladesh who were put into bat first. Several of the Bangladesh top order batsmen made starts but failed to go on and get a big score. Their total on a batting track looked a decent one until Gunawardena and Tharanga proved otherwise.

Bangladesh commence a three match one-day international series against Sri Lanka on Wednesday at the SSC.

Bangladesh 235-8 in 50 overs (Javed Omar 32, Rajesh Saleh 53, Mohammed Ashraful 37, Habibul Bashar 31, Mohamed Rafique 30, S. Jayaprakashdaran2 for 41, R. Herath 2 for 42)

Sri Lanka Cricket XI 239-0 in 36.1 overs (D.A. Gunawardena 111 n.o., W.U. Tharanga 104 n.o.).