Shanaka, Herath heroics prop Sri Lankans
All-rounder Dasun Shanaka became Sri Lanka’s first tour centurion in the ongoing series against England as he helped them pile up a respectable 367 against Leicestershire on the second day of their second three- day county tour match at Grace, Leicestershire, yesterday.
There was another very likely hero in that inning. He was none other than veteran Rangana Herath. Herath who has inculcated a habit of making worthwhile tail- end runs made a plucky 55 and put on a 174 run stand for the 9th wicket, to see that the home team sweat for their wickets.
Shanaka and Herath who got together with scorecard reading a tentative 192 for 8 in the mid-way in the first day, batted for another hour on the second day. Chanaka who was 91 not out overnight made his century in the early part of the day.
On day-two it was Herath who was the more belligerent partner. Twice who hit back-to-back boundaries against Sheikh and Taylor to move to his half century just before he was out.
Shanaka batted for 174 minutes facing 132 balls and hit four sixes and eleven fours, while Herath batted for 138 minutes and hit eight fours.
Earlier on day-one, young Kusal (66), opener Kaushal Silva (38) and stand-in skipper Dinesh Chandimal (30) came up with useful contributions.
Leicestershire openers Angus Robson and Lewis Hill were brisk in their reply. From the very start they batted with purpose and were dealing mainly in boundaries. Besides Lakmal all the bowlers tried by skipper Chandimal p roved expensive. At l unch Leicestershire had scored 61 for no loss in just 14 overs of batting.
SCOREBOARD
Dimuth Karunaratne b Sheikh 0 Kaushal Silva c Sykes b Sayer 38 Kusal Mendis Eckersley b Sayer 65 Dinesh Chandimal b Sykes 30 Lahiru Thirimanne c Wells b Taylor 6 Milinda Siriwardena c Ali b Wells 8 Niroshan Dickwella lbw b Naik 19 Dasun Shanaka c Hills b Wells 112 Dushmantha Chameera c Eckersley b Naik 2 Rangana Herath c Hill b Taylor 55 Suranga Lakmal not out 0
(b 28, w 3, nb 1) 32 (Allout in 97.1 overs)
1-0, 2-101, 3-124, 4-131, 5-153, 6-173, 7-185, 8-192, 9-366
Atif Sheikh 21-4-86-1, Rob Taylor 16-3-55-2, Jigar Naik 15-2-61-2, Tom Wells 18.2-2-72-2, James Sykes 15-5-24-1, Rob Sayer 12-1-41-2 Angus Robson not out Lewis Hill not out (lb 1 and nb 1) (For no wicket in 14 overs) 36 23
2
Suranga Lakmal 5-1-8-0, Dushmantha Chameera 4-1-24-0, Dasun Shanaka 3-0-17-0, Dimuth Karunaratne 2-011-0