The rain gods had the last laugh on the 3rd day of the first unofficial Test match in the 2-match ‘4-day’ series vs the Bangladesh Emerging team (Ban-E) as Sri Lanka Emerging (SL-E) slumped further against the Ban-E spinners. The matches are held in Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium, Khulna.
SL-E were 182 for 6 in reply to Ban-E’s 1st innings total of 360 when the rain stopped play in day 03, allowing only 49 overs to be bowled today.
Yesterday, SL-E top order collapsed, leaving visitors 59/4 in a difficult position but Pramod Maduwantha and Ashen Bandara made it at stumps unscathed.
The pair started today’s play on 101 for 4 and continued their valuable partnership for another 40 more runs to take SL-E to 141 before Maduwantha was trapped in front of the wicket by Tanvir Islam for 40.
Then all-rounder Ramesh Mendis who snatched 4 wickets of the hosts, joined Ashen Bandara in the middle, but his cheekiness was breached by Shafiqul Islam when he was on 18. With a win out of the question, Ashen Bandara and new-comer Chamika Karunaratne who has already earned his Test cap in Australia, blocked Ban-E bowlers to salvage a draw.
With great patience, Ashen Bandara held his end firm without letting Ban-E bowling attack to get Sri Lanka’s tail enders. His unbeaten 208-ball knock of 57 runs will be a telling component if SL-E manages to conclude this game without a defeat.
Most of the play after lunch was not possible because of the persistent rain and SL-E ended on rather a respectable total on 190-6 when the umpires called it stumps. Tomorrow will be the fourth and final day of the match and SL-E are still 20 runs behind to make Ban-E bat again.
 as Sri Lanka Emerging (SL-E) slumped further against the Ban-E spinners. The matches are held in Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium, Khulna.){kind=link}