Sri Lanka ‘A’ a clean sweep over B’desh

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: The Sri Lanka ‘A’ team completed a three nil clean sweep as they defeated the touring Bangladesh ‘A’ team by nine wickets on the Duckworth Lewis scoring method in the third and final unofficial one day match worked off at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.

Bangladesh ‘A’ were restricted to 222 for 9 from their allotted 50 overs after they had won the toss and elected to bat first. However the target for Sri Lanka was changed to 157 runs from 34 overs after rain intervened mid way during their innings.

The Lankans reached their target in style as they made 160 for the loss of just one wicket and sealed the match with 58 balls to spare. Dashing opener Mahela Udawatte led the run chase with a sparkling unbeaten half century.

Udawatte’s superb unbeaten knock of 87 came from just 70 deliveries and included one six and fifteen boundaries. He was also involved in a opening stand of 83 runs along with Dilruwan Perera who made a good contribution of 23 runs with three boundaries.

Skipper Malinda Warnapura joined Mahela Udawatte in the 15th over and the pair really turned the game in their favour with an unfinished second wicket partnership of 77 runs. The pair collected their runs almost at ten runs per over and made their task look much easier at the end.

Earlier Bangladesh ‘A’ threw away another good chance of piling up a big score after being well placed at one stage. They were well placed at 123 for 3 at the half way stage of the innings after Nazimuddin had made a well compiled half century from 76 deliveries with one six and five boundaries.

Nazimuddin played the anchor role during the initial stages of the innings as he put on 47 runs for the second wicket together with opener Jaharul Islam and a further 53 runs for the third wicket with his skipper Tushar Imran.

However the dismissal of Tushar Imran in the 34th over caused a middle order collapse as Bangladesh ‘A’ lost three quick wickets for the addition of only eleven runs. Imran made 44 from 55 deliveries with four boundaries.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ took control from there onwards as they picked up wickets at regular intervals. The spinners Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Upul Chandana and Dilruwan Perera again put up a fantastic performance to put the brakes on the scoring rate.

BANGLADESH A INNINGS
 

Jahurul Islam c Udawatte b Lokuarachchi         22
Mehrab Hossain c Warnapura b Wijekoon         9
Nazimuddin c Warnapura b Lokuarachchi         59
Tushar Imran run out (Kapugedera)               44
Nadif Chowdhury c Wijekoon b Perera             14
Mahmudullah not out                                   44
Farhad Reza c Silva b Perera                           0
Saghir Hossain run out (Chandana)                 3
Dolar Mahmud c Udawatte b Chandana             8
Talha Jubair c Silva b Prasad                           3
Enamul Haque not out                                    6

EXTRAS (w 10)                                             10

TOTAL (9 wickets 50 overs)                         222
 

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-23, 2-70, 3-123, 4-156, 5-161, 6-162, 7-167, 8-189, 9-198

BOWLING: D. Prasad 10-1-46-1, G. Wijekoon 7-0-24-1, I. Amerasinghe 6-0-35-0,
            K. Lokuarachchi 9-0-48-2, U. Chandana 10-0-43-1, D. Perera 8-0-26-2.

SRI LANKA A INNINGS

(target: 157 runs from 34 overs)
 

Dilruwan Perera c Mahmudullah b Farhad Reza     23
Mahela Udawatte not out                                   87
Malinda Warnapura not out                                37

EXTRAS (lb 8, w 5)                                            13

TOTAL (1 wicket 24.2 overs)                             160

Did not bat: Chamara Kapugedera, Thilana Kandamby, Upul Chandana, Kaushal Lokuarachchi,
                Kaushal Silva, Dhammika Prasad, Ishara Amerasinghe and Gayan Wijekoon

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-83

BOWLING: Dolar Mahmud 6-0-38-0, Talha Jubair 5-0-43-0, Enamul Haque 5-1-17-0,
            Farhad Reza 5-0-22-1, Mahmudullah 2-0-22-0, Mehrab Hossain 1.2-0-10-0