After being forced to follow-on, the Sri Lankan openers, Tharanga Paranavitana, and skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan, looked to be on a redemption course as they played against the England Lions in a four-day warm-up match at the County Ground, Derby.
After the tourists were all bowled out for 266 runs on the previous day, a solid opening start was just what the doctor ordered for Dilshan’s men.
The opening pair gave a 200-run stand against the Lions, by dominating the bowlers, right from the first over of the day.
With pride on stake, there was no other option for the newly appointed skipper, Dilshan, but to play the game as a limited overs event.
He scored quickly and also was not afraid to take risks during his well engineered 117-run inning.
Dilshan, who had pledged to put the national side back to their winnings ways, looked determined to disgrace the Lions just the way they embarrassed his side a day earlier. The native pacers seemed out phased and were hammered at will by the visiting side.
Dilshan’s opening partner, Paranavitana who had scored just 26 runs in the first innings, also looked in tremendous form and middled the deliveries with commendable precision. The batsman scored 125 runs in an innings that included 18 boundaries.
Dilshan was the first to go as he lost his wicket after an edge to Lions’ wicketkeeper, Jonny Bairstow, off a delivery bowled by the 22-year-old, Steven Finn.
Finn was then involved in dismissing the former captain, Kumar Sangakkara, by shattering the batsmen’s stumps after he had posted 18 runs.
Former vice-captain, Mahela Jayawardene, was bowled by the lanky Ajmal Shahzad on a delivery which completely rattled the Sri Lankan. The veteran only managed 26 runs.
Meanwhile, Paranavitana’s prized wicket was snatched by Ravi Bopara, as the batsman made an error of judgment and gave a catch to James Taylor.
Nonetheless, the damage had been done by the batsman, and now the remaining bating brigade needed to capitalize on the situation.
At the end of the day, the Lankans had scored 392 runs with four wickets in hand. With this splendid effort, the tourists took a lead of 165 runs on the hosts.
The match was electrified after a commendable performance by the Lankans, who seemed rusty on the first two days but bounced back in a phenomenal way to redeem some pride.
With one day to go, perhaps, Dilshan will be aiming to win the game and earn respect as the new captain, especially since this appointment as the skipper was much criticized.
On the fourth day, the not-out batsmen Thilan Samaraweera (54) and Suraj Randiv(19) will begin the innings aiming to contribute some more runs on the board to give their side a fighting chance in the match.
0 comments:
Post a Comment