by Wallace second century
Windies `A' in strong position
By SA'ADI THAWFEEQ reporting from Kurunegala
Barbadian Philo Wallace powered his way to a second successive century
on the current tour of Sri Lanka, to help West Indies `A' end the
second day of the first unofficial cricket Test in a position of
strength at 264 for three wickets at the Wellagedera Stadium yesterday
- five runs behind the Sri Lanka `A' first innings total of 269.
The powerfully built six foot tall right-hander who scored 125 against
the Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI, continued his line form to make
124. Wallace reached his stroke-filled century off 116 balls and when
he was eventually caught by De Saram at long-on, he had batted 217
minutes and faced 143 balls, hitting 13 fours and four sixes.
Wallace and Stuart Williams put on 87 for the first wicket in 81
minutes, before the latter edged a catch to wicket-keeper Lanka de
Silva off the persevering Mario Villavarayan. Williams scored 39 with
five fours.
Left-hander Floyd Reifer joined Wallace and carried West Indies to 188
for one. But then Reifer was forced to retire with his personal score
on 27 due to cramps. By that time, the second wicket pair had added
101 runs.
David Joseph the vice-captain of the team, who replaced Reifer, had
his innings cut short before he had opened his account when he was
given out caught behind the wicket off left-arm spinner Jayantha
Silva. The decision did not please the batsman. He walked back to the
pavilion slowly and showed his displeasure by smashing a few bottles
in the dressing room.
Wallace who followed soon afterwards, also had some doubts about the
catch taken by De Saram on the boundary line and stood his ground
before departing.
Tony Powell and skipper Roger Harper carried West Indies to the
close-brought forward by two overs, due to bad light-with an
unfinished fourth wicket stand of 49.
The Sri Lanka `A' innings added a further 16 runs for the last two
wickets in 67 minutes before they were dismissed for 269. Ruwan
Kalpage tried his best to shield to the two tailenders, but eventually
was last man out for 45 scored in 174 minutes with the aid of a six
and two fours. Cuffy and Gibson took a wicket each with the second new
ball.
SRI LANKA `A' - 1ST INNINGS
(253 for 8 overnight contd)
R. S. Kalpage c Ford by Cuffy 45, N. Soysa c Williams b Gibson 6, K.
J. Silva not out 0, Extras (B-4, LB-9, NB-15, W-1) 29.
TOTAL (all out, 104 overs, 457 mins) 269.
FALL OF WICKETS: (from 9th onwards) 263, 269.
BOWLING: Gibson 21-4-51-2 (NB-1), Cuffy 24-6-48-3 (NB-5), Francis
12-3-50-0 (NB-6, W-1), Harper 24-7-42-3, Lewis 18-4-49-1 (NB-3), Reifer
5-0-16-0.
WEST INDIES `A' - 1ST INNINGS
S. C. Williams c De Silva b Villavarayan 39, P. A. Wallace c de
Saram b Kalpage 124, F. L. Reifer retd hurt 27, D. R. E. Joseph c De
Silva b Silva 0, T.. O. Powell not out 27, R. A. Harper not out 25,
Extras (B-3, LB-9, NB-10) 22.
TOTAL (for 3 wkts at close, 72 overs, 300 mins) 264.
FALL OF WICKETS: 87, 198, 215.
TO BAT: S. G. B. Ford, O. D. Gibson, R. N. Lewis, C. E. Cuffy.
BOWLING (to-date): Soysa 15-2-79-0, Villavarayan 11-3-44-1, Silva
25-3-78-1, Kalpage 16-4-49-1, Jayantha 5-3-2-0.
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