by The Professor » Wed Aug 24, 2022 8:36 pm
A very run heavy game between England and Sri Lanka Under 19s saw the tourists pip the young Englishmen with a thrilling chase in the dying dregs of the final day.
The game was very metronomic throughout. Practically one innings per day and one century per team. First up was Lancashire’s George Bell who got 107 in the first innings. He and Durham’s Ross Whitfield put on an impressive 185 run third wicket partnership, however the rest of the established batters all got a start but did not kick on. Bell’s century (and doesn’t it feel good to say that again) came in a mere 88 balls. Bell-ball perhaps? England were all out towards the end of Day One.
Day Two was dominated by the batting heroics of Asith Wanninayake. The young Kurunegala batter batted grittily all day long on Day Two and went to stumps on 132* off 314 balls. Gallingly (or maybe Galle-ingly) he was removed for the gain of no run on the morning of Day Three, however the tail held on and Sri Lanka managed to close on 407 – a lead of 20.
Ross Whitfield then added to his impressive haul of 86 in the first dig to then get a century of his own in England’s second innings – this was not as quick as Bell’s on the first day but a strike rate of 82.08 is a decent lick. Again, the scores around him were not as impressive and England could only muster 292, which set Sri Lanka a target of 273.
England would have been confident of the win at 48-4 and then again at 95-8 but Ranuda Somarathne decided to fight fire with fire and got a more than run a ball century for Sri Lanka to close it out with minutes left in the day’s play.
A thoroughly entertaining 4 days 0 with another one scheduled for Derby, starting on Sunday.
"It has been said of the unseen army of the dead, on their everlasting march, that when they are passing a rural cricket ground the Englishman falls out of the ranks for a moment to look over the gate and smile."