Pushpakumara spins SL ‘A’ to win

Left-arm orthodox spinner Malinda Pushpakumara ended with a match bag of 12 wickets which paved the way for Sri Lanka ‘A’ to record a three-wicket win over England Lions in the 2nd unofficial Test match concluded at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium yesterday.

The final day’s proceedings saw England Lions resuming from their overnight score of 32 for 2 losing two early wickets in the morning session as they slid to 58 for 4.

Later, first innings centurion Liam Livingstone and Ben Foakes rescued the visitors with a fifthwicket stand of 107 runs but the separation of the duo saw them losing wickets at regular intervals before being bowled out for 284 ,with Livingstone making an unbeaten 140 which proved to be in vain.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ in pursuit of a simple run chase of 90 runs lost three quick wickets with just 34 runs on the board and underwent some anxious moments before reaching the target for the loss of seven wickets to win the twomatch Test series.

The two teams will play the first of the five unofficial ODI matches on March 2 which will be followed by the second ODI on March 4 also scheduled to be played at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium.

The third ODI is due to be played on March 3 at Welagedera Stadium in Kurunegala and the fourth and fifth ODI matches will be played on March 9 and 11 at R. Premadasa Stadium.

England Lions 353 (Liam Livingstone 105, Tom Westley 68, Keaton Jennigs 44, Ben Foakes 30, Haseeb Hameed 15: Malinda Pushpakumara 8 for 127) and (32/2 overnight) 284 (Ben Foakes 54, Keaton Jennings 18, Liam Livingstone 140 n.o.: Malinda Pushpakumara 5 for 78, Jefferey Vandersay 3 for 102, Dhananjaya de Silva 2 for 47)

Sri Lanka ‘A’ 548 (Dimuth Karunaratne 212, Sadeera Samarawickrama 185, Dhananjaya de Silva 74, Jefferey Vandersay 26, Malinda Pushpakumara 20: Ollie Rayner 4 for 164, Toby Roland-jones 3 for 67, Tom Curran 2 for 74)

and 90 for 7 (Udara Jayasundara 32, Dhananjaya de Silva 23: Tom Curran 4 for 38, Jack Leach 2 for 3) -MSA