Sri Lanka Academy bounce back

CRICKET: The Sri Lanka Academy team registered their first win in the Tri Nation Tournament in Bangladesh.

The Sri Lanka Academy who suffered a close fought defeat to Bangladesh in their first match came back strongly to defeat the Pakistan Academy team by 4 wickets at the BKSP grounds in Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka invited the Pakistan to take first lease of the wicket in a match which was reduced to 39 overs due to overnight rain. The Sri Lankan bowlers displayed a much improved performance on this occasion and restricted their opposition to 215 for 7 wickets in 39 overs. A 3rd wicket partnership of 92 runs between Kuurram Manzoor (91) and Shahid Yousuf (52) ensured Pakistan got to a reasonable total.

The Sri Lankan bowlers bowled with much discipline, accuracy and variations were the order of the day which was backed up with some brilliant fielding which pegged the batsman down. Nuwan Zoysa was the most successful bowler with (2 wickets for 23 runs off 7 Overs).

In pursuit of 216 runs to win, the Sri Lankan openers Ian Daniels and Viraj Perera put on 70 runs for the 1st wicket in just 8 overs. Viraj Perera was the first to depart when he nicked a ball to the wicket keeper and was out for 37.

However then Tharanga Paranavithana who joined his captain Ian Daniel shared a 89 run partnership for the 2nd wicket which brought the Sri Lankans within striking distance of the required total.

Ian Daniel top scored with 70 runs off 78 balls while Tharanga Paranavithana made a fluent 61 runs off 71 balls. A late burst of wickets by fast bowler Junaid Zia was not good enough to bring Pakistan back in to the game as Sri Lanka sealed victory in the 37th over with 4 wickets in hand.

Chief Scores:

Pakistan Academy: 215 for 7 wickets in 39 overs (Kuurram Manzoor 91, Shahid Yousuf 52, Fawad Alam 33, Nuwan Zoysa 2 for 23)

SL Academy: 216 for 6 wickets in 36.5 overs (Ian Daniel 70, Tharanga Paranavithana 61, Viraj Perera 37, Junaid Zia 3 for 34 runs).