Tharanga 86, shines for Board XI again

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Upul Tharanga further boosted his chances of playing in the first Test match against England with another powerful display against the tourists in the second three-day warm up fixture which commenced at the NCC ground in Maitland Place yesterday.

The stylish left hander who struck a splendid 112 during a comeback trail in the tour opener last week, hammered a top score of 86 runs as the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI reached an impressive 298 for 9 in their first innings after skipper Tillekeratne Dilshan had won the toss and elected to bat first.

But the sad news for England is that their main strike bowler Steve Harmision was forced to leave the field with back spasms after sending down the third delivery of his 11th over shortly before the close of play.

Harmison who was a late entry into the touring squad after proving his fitness while playing first class cricket in South Africa following hernia problems finished the day with disappointing figures of one wicket for 45 runs.

Tharanga who did not play on the recent two Test series against Australia has been included in the 14-member Sri Lanka squad for the first Test match starting at the Asgiriya stadium in Kandy on Saturday.

The openers Tharanga and Mahela Udawatte gave the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI a superb start with a 55 run partnership before Hoggard broke through by having Udawatte caught by a diving Michael Vaughan at mid-on.

The Board President’s XI who went in for lunch at 109 for 2 suffered a major setback seven runs later when skipper Tillekeratne Dilshan was dismissed by Harmison for 23. Dilshan who was overlooked for the Australian tour and failed to make the squad for the first Test looked promising having smashed three fours and a six.

Tharanga was well on course to scoring his second successive century against the tourists but his innings was cut short when he edged a drive from James Anderson and was snapped up by Ian Bell in the slips.

However Jehan Mubarak (68) and wicket keeper Kaushal Silva (53) both completed fine half centuries and boosted the total by adding 105 for the sixth wicket. Mubarak stroked five boundaries while Silva hammered half a dozen of boundaries during his second successive half century against the visitors.

Sri Lanka Board 
President’s XI

U. Tharanga c Bell b Anderson		86
M. Udawatte c Vaughan b Hoggard		18
M. Warnapura c Prior b Bopara		16
T. Dilshan c Anderson b Harmison	23
J. Mubarak c Prior b Hoggard		68
C. Kapugedara c Bopara b Hoggard	13
K. Silva c Cook b Panesar		53
K. Lokuarachchi lbw b Panesar		 0
S. de Silva not out			 1
C. Welagedera c Cook b Panesar		 1
I. Amarasinghe not out			 0
Extras: (b6, nb7, nb6)			19
Total (for nine wickets in 81 overs)	298
Fall of wickets: 1-55 (Udawatte), 2-79 (Warnapura), 3-116 (Dilshan), 
4-158 (Tharanga), 5-182 (Kapugedara), 6-287 (Silva), 7-287 (Lokuarachchi), 
8-297 (Mubarak), 9-298 (Welagedera).
Bowling: Hoggard 17-3-57-3 (nb2), Anderson 15.3-4-55-1 (nb1), 
Harmison 10.3-1-45-1 (nb1), Bopara 11-2-43-1 (nb1), Panesar 22-4-67-3, 
Pietersen 4-0-15-0, Vaughan 1-0-3-0
England team: Michael Vaughan (capt), Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, 
Ian Bell, Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, Matthew Prior, James Anderson, 
Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar.