The action resumed for the 2nd day of the ongoing 2nd 4-day game between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’, at P. Sara Stadium in Colombo.
Ramesh Mendis and Milan Rathnayake came out as the overnight batters and managed to increase their partnership to 65 by adding another 25 runs this morning. Right-arm seamer Beyers Swanepoel provided the first wicket of the day for the visitors, removing Rathnayake for 35, which came off 58 balls with 5 fours & 1 six.
Meanwhile, Mendis, who had done a great job throughout the series with the bat, registered his 18th First Class half-century and was dismissed as the top scorer after scoring 62 off 123 deliveries, including 5 fours and 2 sixes. Lutho Sipamla got rid of Mendis before Senuran Muthusamy wrapped it up by taking the final wicket of Praveen Jayawickrama for note as Sri Lanka ’A’ were bowled out for 290 after batting for just 9.1 overs on the morning of the 2nd day.
With the final wicket, Muthusamy showcased another excellent show with the ball, grabbing 6 wickets for 101 runs in 26.1 overs. Apart from him, Lutho Sipamla took a couple of wickets, while Lizaad Williams and Beyers Swanepoel picked up a wicket each.
The Proteas skipper Tony De Zorzi and Matthew Breetzke walked in as openers, but left-arm pacer Vishwa Fernando drew the first blood for Sri Lanka ‘A’ by trapping Zorzi off the very first ball of their innings. Breetzke though stroked a couple of boundaries against Fernando, but the latter had the last laugh, trapping him too for just 10 runs.
After losing two early wickets with only 15 runs on the board, Tristan Stubbs and Keegan Peterson were looking to put on a fight, as the duo stitched together a century stand for the 3rd wicket. Experienced batter Peterson built his innings in a really solid way and managed to reach his 37th first class fifty.
Lakshitha Manasinghe has broken that partnership by dismissing Peterson, but Stubbs continued to cash in as the latter went on to register his 3rd first class century and shared another century stand with Zubayr Hamza for the 4th wicket.
However, the Sri Lankan bowlers showed some fight back in the latter part of the day by picking up three wickets including both set batters. Stubbs also out LBW off Fernando after stroking 117 off 205 balls which included 15 fours & 1 six. Hamza was castled by Manasinghe for 46, while Senuran Muthusamy also trapped by Manasinghe for just 10.
When the stumps has been called on Day 2, the visitors were on 287/6 with Kyle Verreynne (34*) and Beyers Swanepoel (4*) staying unbeaten at the crease, but they were still 3 runs behind with 4 wickets in hand.
