Sonal, Wanuja shine in rain-shortened match

Sonal Dinusha and Wanuja Sahan shone for Sri Lanka ‘A’ against Afghanistan ‘A’ on day two of the rain-shortened four-day unofficial Test match played at the P. Sara Stadium.

Only 20.2 overs of play were possible for the day, with Sri Lanka ‘A’ facing 14.1 of those, which saw overnight pair Sonal (126) and Wanuja (34) help Sri Lanka ‘A’ resuming from their overnight score of 372/7 to post the 400 runs on board.

The pair, having added a further ten runs and associating in a valuable 119-run stand for the eighth wicket, was separated with the dismissal of Sonal, who fell victim to spinner Ziaur Rehman, having made a top score of 145 runs in 193 balls that included 16 boundaries.

Wanuja did not last long, as he too fell victim to Rehman, having put on a brief ninth wicket stand of 25 runs with Milan Ratnayake, having hit 75 in 128 balls with nine boundaries and a six.

Left-arm spinner Rehman, who bagged the remaining three wickets, ended with six scalps and finished off the host side’s innings for a score of 435 runs, but Afghanistan ‘A’ in their turn was able to face only 6.1 overs, making 18 for 1 before heavy rain forced the umpires to call off the match. The match will be continued today. Results:

Sri Lanka ‘A’ (372/7 overnight) 435 (Sonal Dinusha 145, Wanuja Sahan 75, Lahiru Udara 65, Vishad Randika 63, Oshada Fernando 32, Ahan Wickramasinghe 27; Zia-ur Rehman 6/127, Naveed Zadran 2/94)

Afghanistan ‘A’ 18/1