After 3 days of action, at the beginning of the final day Australia A needed 330 more runs to win while Sri Lanka A needed 9 wickets. It was expected to be a very close game but the visiting batters managed to chase down this target after losing just 5 wickets to take the series 2-0.
Lakshitha Rasanjana & Dilshan Madushanka managed to start the final day on a good note for Sri Lanka A as the visitors lost 4 wickets for 69 making it a steep mountain to climb for them. But two Australians in Henry Hunt(107) & Jimmy Peirson(128) scored two high-class centuries to keep the turbines moving for their team. After the dismissal of Henry Hunt, Aaron Hardie who walked out to bat at number 7 also scored an unbeaten 78 as the tourists pulled out an unlikely 4th day chase at Hambantota to win the 2nd unofficial test match.
One of the key features of the 151 run stand for the 5th wicket between Hunt & Peirson was that they accumulated the majority of their runs by simply scoring the singles and the doubles. They just kept the scoreboard moving and before even Sri Lanka A knew the required runs came to below 200. Hunt’s 107 included just 3 fours and Peirson’s unbeaten 128 had just 4 fours in it.
Hardie who partnered up with Peirson to add 150 runs for the 6th wicket and take Australia A home played a completely different inning as he relied a lot on boundaries as his 78 included 6 fours.
One of the main weak points Sri Lanka A had today was the absence of another spinner to be the partner of Lakshitha. Suminda Lakshan & Sahan Arachchige were used but they couldn’t make any impact on this 4th day wicket.
With this win, the Australia A tour of Sri Lanka comes to an end with the visitors taking higher honors in the longer format leg of the tour.
