Thirimanne stars in rain hampered drawn encounter

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The 2nd Unofficial Test between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and Bangladesh ‘A’ ended in a tame draw today at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong. More than half of the match was washed out by heavy rains in Chittagong. Today, eventually saw a complete day’s play.

Sri Lanka was on 54 for 1 at stumps yesterday. Lahiru Milantha, who was unbeaten on 42 and was eyeing a career-defining half-century, failed to score a single run as he was dismissed by Khaled Ahmed in the 5th over of the day.

Ashan Priyanjan together with the steady and stylish Lahiru Thirimanne added 100 runs for the 3rd wicket. Ashan Priyanjan scored a half-century before he fell to 17-year old Nayeem Hasan.

Read : Lahiru Milantha scores 42 during the short play

Nayeem Hasan was also able to break the 52-run partnership for the 4th wicket between Thirimanne and wicket-keeper Sadeera Samarawickrema. Samarawickrema had scored 27 when he was bowled out.

Thirimanne was once again involved in a half-century partnership, this time with Charith Asalanka. The two left-handers added 67 runs for the 5th wicket before Asalanka fell of a Sabbir Rahman delivery for 39.

Thirimanne on the other end kept accumulating runs as he went on to register his 2nd century of the series. He took 186 balls to get to his 100 and hit 6 boundaries and 2 sixes.

Captain Karunaratne declared the Lankan innings just after Thirimanne reached his century. Sammu Ashan was the other unbeaten batsman on naught. The tourists score, when the declaration happened, was 281 for 5 in 80 overs.

Two national caps Soumya Sarkar and Anamul Haque opened the innings  for the hosts. They batted for just 16 overs before the match was stopped. Dilesh Gunaratne took the only wicket to fall during this 16 overs. Anamul Haque (17) in his comeback game, was the victim. Saumya Sarkar and Thushar Imran remained unbeaten.

The 3rd Unofficial Test will start on the 10th of July at Sylhet.

Brief Scores

SL ‘A’ 281/5 (80 Overs) Lahiru Thirimanne 100*, Ashan Priyanjan 57, Lahiru Milantha 42, Charith Asalanka 39, Nayeem Hasan 2/105

BAN ‘A’ 59/1 (16 Overs) Saumya Sarkar 30*, Dilesh Gunaratne 1/31