West Indies 'A' make a bold reply

West Indies 'A' responded strongly with 494 for five by stumps on the third day in reply to 472 posted by Sri Lanka 'A' in their unofficial first Test played at St Kitts yesterday.

Resuming from the overnight score of 147/1, West Indies hit back hard with two big centuries by Kirk Edwards and Assad Fudadin, sharing a 256-run stand between them for the second wicket. Edwards smashed 190 while his partner Fudadin cracked 145 in the four-day series opening game.

Sri Lanka 'A' who decided to bat first, posted 472 runs for the first innings by second day's mid-afternoon session.

Lankans scored 305 for 5 on the first day with openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Udara Jayasundara's solid 104-run partnership. Captain Karunaratne made 57 as the first wicket.

Kithuruwan Vithanage joined Jayasundara and the pair added another 94 runs for the second wicket.

Left-handed all-rounder Chaturanga de Silva powered the Lankan innings as the middle order batsman hammered 109 runs off 149 balls with three sixes and eight fours. Sri Lanka off spinner Tharindu Kaushal picked up three for 186 during his 46 overs.