Sri Lanka A were 329-8 at the close of play on day two of their 4-day match against England Lions, leading by 30 runs with two wickets remaining in the first innings.
England Lions were made to work hard on day two of their match against Sri Lanka A in Scarborough. Sri Lanka began the day on 27-0 and despite some hostile bowling from the Lions pace trio of Jade Dernbach, James Harris and Stuart Meaker, the Sri Lankans only lost two wickets in the morning session.
After lunch James Harris picked up his first wicket of day when Dimuth Karunaratne edged to Jonny Bairstow at second slip for 43 but the rest of the session belonged to the batsmen. A partnership of 147 between Bhanuka Rajapaksha and Kaushal Silva helped Sri Lanka to 292-3, seven runs short of England Lions first innings total.
The new ball proved vital for the Lions with James Harris and Jade Dernbach both causing problems for the tourists. Dernbach dismissed Bhanuka Rajapaksha for 76 in the second over with the new ball and captain Kaushal Silva followed three overs later caught behind for 89 off the bowling of Harris. Kushal Perera was caught behind off the second ball he faced to give Dernbach his third wicket of the day. The Surrey bowler was also instrumental in the run out that got rid of Sachithra Serasinghe for 13. Harris struck again to remove Kosala Kulasekara before bad light stopped play in the 89th over of the day with Sri Lanka losing five wickets for 33 runs in the final seven overs of the day. Sachithra Senanayake and Kanishka Alvitigala are the batsmen hoping to extend Sri Lanka's first innings lead when they return to the crease on day three.
James Harris, who finished with figures of 3-69 said: "I'm pleased with my performance today, the ball's coming out well. We bowled to a plan, stuck to our guns, and we brought ourselves back into it at the end of the day. If we can bowl them out quickly tomorrow and then post a good total, we'll have a very good chance of winning."
CRICKET’S PERFECT SPECTACLE
ENGLAND RETURN IN 2025
SECURE YOUR SEATS