Mendis and Dickwella smash half-tons; Essex on top

Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella stroked important half-centuries but Aaron Beard stole the headlines as Essex took command of their tour match against the visiting, Sri Lankan side on Sunday at Chelmsford.

The 18 year-old right-arm fast-bowler marked his first-class debut with a haul of 4 for 62 from 16 overs of controlled hostility as the tourists were bowled out for 254. At stumps on day one, Essex were 81 for 2.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Beard removed Kaushal Silva with the 4th ball of the match and then got rid of Dimuth Karunaratne with the 3rd ball of his next over as the islanders were 16 for 2.However, Sri Lanka overcame those early setbacks as Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal added 88 for the 2^nd wicket before New Zealander, Jesse Ryder had Chandimal caught at second slip by Tom Westley for 27 as the batsman shaped to drive.

Beard continued his impressive debut by striking twice soon after lunch. First, he had Kusal Mendis caught behind by Matt Cross for 66, an innings containing 8 fours and one six before bowling Milinda Siriwardana for 5. Sri Lanka lost their 6^th wicket when Dhananjaya De Silva became Ryder’s 2^nd victim when the score was 155.

Dickwella and skipper Mathews produced 52 valuable runs before Ravi Bopara dismissed the latter for 30. Dickwella struck two sixes and half-a-dozen fours in making 53 from 69 deliveries as he rallied along with the tail to help Sri Lanka post a below-par 254.

The hosts’ opening pair, Jaik Mickleburgh and Nick Browne added 78 cautious and well-constructed runs but the Lankans hit-back strongly at the dying stages of day one as Prasad had Browne trapped in front of his stumps for 28 while Shaminda Erangaclean bowled night watchman, Tom Moore for 3 in the penultimate ball of the day.

The match will be continued today (9^th May) for second day’s play.