A magnificent century from former Sri Lanka cricketer Milinda Siriwardana and his face-saving stand of 187 for the fifth wicket with Kamindu Mendis (91) has placed Sri Lanka A in a position to press for a win over Ireland A in the first 4-day unofficial test played at the SSC grounds yesterday.
By stumps on the second day Ireland A who trailed Sri Lanka by 155 runs on the first innings finished on 182-9 – an overall lead of only 27 with one second innings wicket in hand going into the third day today.
Ireland A who were dismissed for 153 in their first innings fought back to reduce Sri Lanka A to 46-4 before Siriwardana and Mendis staged their superb fight back.
Siriwardana went onto hit 13 fours and a six in his contribution of 104 off 126 balls before he was dismissed by left-arm spinner James Cameron-Dowe who went onto finish with excellent figures of 7 for 77.Once the partnership was broken the Irish bowlers especially Cameron-Dowe ran through the rest of the Lanka A batting as they lost their last five wickets for 58 runs after resuming at 185-4. Sri Lanka A were all out for 308 with the only other notable knock coming from Mendis who stroked 13 fours in his 91 off 135 balls.
The Irish batting once again succumbed to the left-arm spin of Lasith Ambuldeniya who followed his four-wicket haul in the first innings with figures of 5 for 68.
Scores:
Ireland A 153 and 182-9 at close in 52 overs (J Shannon 32, L Tucker 26, Mohamed Shiraz 2/47, Lasith Ambuldeniya 5/68)
Sri Lanka A 308 (185/4 o/n) in 77.1 overs (Milinda Siriwardana 104, Kamindu Mendis 91, Manoj Sarathchandra 20, James Cameron-Dow 7/77, Mark Adair 3/43)
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