by Friday 08, November 1996
Sri Lanka `A' vs West Indies `A' : SL 253 for 8
SA'ADI THAWFEEQ reporting from Kurunegala
Marvan Atapattu played a captain's knock of 104 to steer Sri Lan-
ka `A' to a first-day total of 253 for eight wickets in the first
4-day unofficial cricket Test against West Indies `A' at the
Welagedera Stadium Thursday.
Atapattu came to the wicket with his side struggling at 16 for 2
after being put into bat first on a wicket affording the West In-
dian pacemen enough early morning movement.
The right-hander was fortunate to survive three chances before
reaching fifty, to go and complete what was to be his first cen-
tury against international opposition.
Atapattu was given lives; at 14, 37 and 45, the unfortunate
bowlers being Ottis Gibson and Cameron Cuffy - before settling
down to play some attractive strokes, to reach his century in the
78th over of the day off 175 balls with 10 fours in 310 minutes.
Atapattu became one his vis-a-vis Roger Harper's three wickets
for the day when he hit back an easy catch to Philo Wallace at
short leg.
Before his dismissal, Atapattu shared in stands of 70 for the
fourth wicket with Sanjeeva Ranatunga, 77 for the sixth with Lan-
ka de Silva and 65 for the seventh with Ruwan Kalpage.
Apart from Atapattu's fine knock, the rest of the Sri Lanka `A'
batting failed against the West Indies combination of pace and
spin.
The plight of the Sri Lankans would have been worse had not the
West Indian fielders shoddy performance on the field.
The Sri Lankan innings got off to a bad start when Test opener
Duleep Samaraweera ran himself out needlessly without having
faced a single ball. Samaraweera backed up too far from the
non-striker's end and failed to beat Nigel Francis's direct
thrown from mid-off.
The West Indians never looked back from that unexpected bonus and
kept the pressure on the Sri Lankan's throughout the day.
SRI LANKA `A' - 1ST INNINGS
R. R. Arnold c Harper b Cuffy 16, D. P. Samaraweera run out 0, S.
Jayantha c Ford b Cuffy 7, M. S. Atapattu c Wallace b Harper 104,
S. Ranatunga c Williams b Harper 23, I. S. de Saram c Ford b Gib-
son 4, S. K. L. de Silva c Reifer b Lewis 32, R. S. Kalpage not
out 32, M. Villavarayen c Ford b Harper 3, N. Soysa not out 5,
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-8, NB-14, W-1) 27.
TOTAL (for 8 wkts at close 90 overs, 390 mins) 253.
FALL OF WICKETS: 0, 16, 24, 94, 107, 184, 239, 243.
TO BAT: K. J. Silva.
BOWLING (to-date): Gibson 16-4-42-1, Cuffy 17-3-43-2, Francis
10-2-49-0, Harper 24-6-42-3, Lewis 18-4-49-1, Reifer 5-0-16-0.
WEST INDIES `A': R. A. Harper (captain), D. R. E. Joseph, P. A.
Wallace, S. C. Williams, F. L. Reifer, T. O. Pal, S. G. B. Ford,
O. D. Gibson, C. E. Cuffy, N. B. Francis, R. N. Lewis.
Thanks :: The Daily News (Sri Lanka) and
Lanka Internet Services