Sri Lanka ‘A’ hammer Windies to take 1-nil lead in 3-‘Test’ series

Oct 15, 2014 Sports 0

West Indies ‘A’ crashed to an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat to hosts Sri Lanka ‘A’ on the final day of their opening

Shane Shillingford

four-day “Test” at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Cricket Stadium yesterday after they were asked to follow-on during the third day’s play.
Sri Lanka’s win give them a 1-0 lead in the three-‘Test’ series going into Saturday’s  second ‘Test’ at the Uyanwatte Stadium in Matara and the West Indians will be hoping for an improved performance.
Scores: Sri Lanka ‘A’ (413 & 34-0), West Indies ‘A’ (160 & 285). West Indies ‘A’ resumed on their overnight 267-7 with Shane Shillingford on 56 and Nikita Miller on 37 and the pair extended their partnership to 106 before the 32-year-old Miller was removed by Vishwa Fernando when four runs short of his sixth First-Class fifty to leave the Caribbean side on 281-8.
Shillingford, the 31-year-old Dominican off-spinner who picked up his 26th 5-wicket haul in Sri Lanka ‘A’s first innings, reached 63 before Fernando trapped him in front at 284-9 while Sheldon Cottrell (1) had his stumps scattered one run later by Fernando, who cleaned up the tail in clinical fashion to finish with 3-21 after Lahiru Gamage had taken three wickets on the penultimate day to end with 3-49.
Set 34 to win, the home team galloped to their target in just 4.3 overs as Jehan Mubarak (21) and Dimuth Karunaratne (11) brutally tore into the West Indies new ball attack of Cottrell and Shannon Gabriel, to finish the contest in emphatic fashion.