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| Sunday, 9 June 2002 |
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De Silva comes from sick bed to top score with 54 (n.o.) by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from England CHESTERFIELD, June 8 - Sri Lanka came up with a batting performance that wouldn't have done their shattered confidence any good ahead of Thursday's third Test against England when they were shot out for a despicable 127 on a good track by the MCC on the third and final day of their 3-day match played at Queen's Park here today. Short of confidence after their innings thrashing by England in the second Test at Edgbaston, a week ago, Sri Lanka played right into the enemy's hands with this slipshod batting performance. The MCC captain David Fulton under instructions from the England team management to keep the touring team under pressure before the Old Trafford Test, did not enforce the follow-on, but rubbed it into them by batting a second time, thus depriving Sri Lanka of a second batting chance. MCC made 93-0 declared off 17 overs in their second innings with Fulton scoring 47 not out and Andrew Strauss 37 not out. The match predictably ended in a draw with rain ruining almost 1 1/2 days play. But what was disheartening was the manner in which the top order batsmen surrendered their wickets. It was pure rank bad batting on a pitch where MCC had run up a total of 326-7 declared that had Sri Lanka reeling at 59-8 at one stage. Veteran batsman Aravinda de Silva suffering from influenza was summoned from his sick bed to the crease as wickets tumbled like nine pins. He showed that there was nothing devilish on the pitch to score a pulsating half-century that saw Sri Lanka get past at least the 100-run mark. De Silva who had gone to the doctor's for treatment but had to be rushed back to the ground where he treated the spectators to a grand exhibition of stroke play against the MCC's three-man pace attack of James Kirtley, Kevin Dean and Simon Jones. He struck three sixes and five fours in his 49-ball knock of 54 not out. Dilhara Fernando helped De Silva add a valuable 49 runs for the ninth wicket, batting 46 minutes for three runs. Fernando's defiance was ended at 116 when Kirtley had him caught behind for his third wicket of the innings. He had earlier accounted for both openers, skipper Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara to finish with figures of three for 47. Kirtley of Sussex was one of the few England fast bowlers who had to modify his action after it was reported to be flawed by ICC match referee Naushad Ali in Zimbabwe last October. He was one of the few cricketers who sympathized with Ruchira Perera when he was reported to the ICC by the umpires after the first Test at Lord's. Jayasuriya began as if he was playing one-day innings. He banged the first ball from Kirtley for four and then went onto hit two further boundaries in his brief knock of 16 before edging the ball behind the wicket to Read. Sangakkara was trapped lbw for six as he shuffled across his stumps in Kirtley's next over to make Sri Lanka 23-2 at lunch. Both Hashan Tillakaratne and Russell Arnold perished within one run of each other as Dean, the 6ft 5ins tall left-armer from Derbyshire got into action. Tillakaratne was bowled through his defence for the second time in successive innings for a duck, and Arnold was caught by Afzaal for three. Sri Lanka compounded their dismal batting performance further when Upul Chandana was run out without scoring to make them 30-5. Dean took his third wicket of the innings when he had Prasanna Jayawardene edging a delivery to his vis-…-vis Read for seven. Jones made it 59-8 by getting rid of Tilan Samaraweera (10) and Eric Upashntha (8) for the addition of only a further 14 runs, before De Silva and Fernando came together for the best partnership of the innings. England coach Duncan Fletcher who was present at the match, will return to Old Trafford pleased by the day's events, for once again, Sri Lanka's batsmen had demonstrated their incapability to handle the swinging and seaming ball. Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Arnold and Tillakaratne came to this match with the hope of getting valuable batting practice. But by the end of it, they travel to Old Trafford inadequately short of runs behind them. The MCC added a further 75 minutes in the morning losing the wicket of Dawson for 15 before declaring at 326-7. It allowed former England all-rounder Usman Afzaal to complete a cultured century off 165 balls with three sixes and five fours. He was unbeaten on 111 with Dean on 14 at the closure. Ruchira Perera took the only wicket to fall to finish with four for 66 off 20 overs, figures which the Sri Lanka tour selectors cannot ignore even though the bowler is only halfway through his rehabilitation period. He quick and menacing while Dilhara Fernando came through his initial test quite successfully although he could not add to his previous day's tall of two wickets. He send down 18 overs for figures of 2-53. MCC 1ST INNINGS (overnight 270-6)
A. Strauss c Chandana b Fernando 32
R. Key c Tillakaratne b Chandana 77
D. Fulton c Jayawardene b Perera 29
O. Shah c Perera b Fernando 0
U. Afzaal not out 111
D. Stevens c Tillakaratne b Perera 3
C. Read c Jayasuriya b Perera 24
R. Dawson c Arnold b Perera 15
K. Dean not out 14
Extras (lb-7, w-1, nb-13) 21
Total (7 wkts decl. 86 overs) 326
Did not bat: S. Jones, J. Kirtley.
Fall of wickets: 1-95, 2-148, 3-148,
4-148, 5-170, 6-238, 7-287.
Bowling: Perera 20-3-66-4 (5nb, 1w),
Upashantha 12-0-96-0 (7nb),
Fernando 18-3-53-2,
Samaraweera 16-2-46-0,
Chandana 15-4-45-1 (1nb),
Jayasuriya 5-0-13-0.
SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS
S. Jayasuriya c Read b Kirtley 16
K. Sangakkara lbw b Kirtley 6
R. Arnold c Afzaal b Dean 3
H. Tillakaratne b Dean 0
T. Samaraweera c Dawson b Jones 10
U. Chandana run out 0
P. Jayawardene c Read b Dean 7
A. de Silva not out 54
E. Upashantha c Read b Jones 8
D. Fernando c Read b Kirtley 3
R. Perera c Jones b Dawson 5
Extras (b- 5, lb-8, w-1, nb-1) 15
Total (all out, 35.3 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-23, 3-24, 4-25, 5-30,
6-43, 7-45, 8-59, 9-116, 10-127.
Bowling: Kirtley 13-4-47-3, Dean 12-3-29-3,
Jones 6-2-23-2 (1nb, 1w), Dawson 4.3-1-15-1.
MCC 2ND INNINGS
D. Fulton not out 47
A. Strauss not out 37
Extras (lb-1, nb-8) 9
Total (no loss decl., 17 overs) 93
Bowling: Perera 4-0-33-0, Upashantha 6-0-30-0,
Samaraweera 4-0-15-0, Chandana 2-0-11-0,
Tillakaratne 1-0-3-0.
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