Mendis, Dickwella warm-up for Test series

NAPIER, Monday : Two of the young guns in the Sri Lankan batting line up Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella managed to get some runs under their belt ahead of the two-Test series against New Zealand starting at Wellington on Saturday in the drawn 3-day warm-up match against a New Zealand XI played here on Monday.

Mendis scored an authoritative 72 off 105 balls (8 fours, 2 sixes) before retiring not out, and Dickwella who is expected to keep wickets struck five fours in scoring a compact 43 not out off 56 balls as Sri Lanka declared their second innings at 321-5 after resuming at 160-2.

The hosts left with a target of 262 to chase in over one session, closed on 139-2.