Sri Lanka ‘A’ determined to put up better batting show

Sri Lanka ‘A’ were inspired by the batting of openers Lahiru Udara and Kamil Mishara in the first unofficial test 

• Second 4-day unofficial test against Pakistan ‘A’ today

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka ‘A’ hope to come up with a better batting display in the second four-day unofficial test against Pakistan ‘A’ starting at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium today, drawing inspiration from the partnership put up by their openers Kamil Mishara and Lahiru Udara in the second innings of the drawn first ‘test’.

On the opening day of that ‘test’, Sri Lanka ‘A’ were caught on a grassy pitch under overcast conditions and were bundled out for 141, but on the fourth and final day under better batting conditions Sri Lanka ‘A’ scored 144/2 with Mishara and Udara sharing an opening stand of 98.

“The second innings batting display will give our boys encouragement for the second ‘test’; the way Kamil Mishara and Lahiru Udara batted, it certainly showed, even though there were Test bowlers playing on the other side. We showed in the second innings when the wicket was different and solid and the conditions were not overcast how well we can bat,” said Sri Lanka ‘A’ Coach Rumesh Ratnayake. Mishara went on to score 98 and Udara made 28.

Analysing what went wrong for Sri Lanka in the first innings Ratnayake said: “When you look at the dismissals of our players there’s nothing wrong; it’s just that they put the bat in the wrong place even in defence. Most of them got out in a defensive form. When you analyse the whole thing it was late movement because of overcast conditions.”

“The two sessions were very vital for us. We did extremely well in the first hour of the first day, but after that we lost six wickets within the next hour. First ball after the water break, a wicket fell and that continued. Pakistan bowled very well after the first hour and they had classy bowlers, one of them (Naseem Shah),  took five wickets against us in a Test match. It was good bowling at the right place, the right moment of time on day one.” 

Ratnayake praised the batting of tailenders Vishwa Fernando and Lasith Embuldeniya who figured in a fighting 31-run stand for the ninth wicket to lift Sri Lanka ‘A’ from a despairing 66/6 to 141 all out in the first innings.

“Take our tailenders on day two – ‘Vishy’ batted the best out of that lot, he had Embuldeniya as his partner. It was totally different conditions, but it was the same bowlers, they were fresh but they could not get him out. He was 30* not out. Vishy is a guy whom we all know saved us from defeat and won a Test against South Africa. The way he batted in that Test he was missing the ball about 100 times. He is an improved batter now and he batted so well. Even today I told one of the boys (his brother Nuwanidu Fernando) ‘let’s bat like Vishy and told him to get advice from him.’”

Pakistan no doubt had the best of batting conditions, scoring 324/2 declared, with their captain Saud Shakeel scoring 118 and two other batters completing half-centuries.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ are due to make several changes to the side in order to give as many of the 22 players in the squad the opportunity against international opposition.

“The ideal situation is to give everybody a chance. The selectors feel like that and so do we as coaches. There is no point keeping 22 players if none of them had played at the end of the day. Each of them will have to get at least a game,” said Ratnayake. 

“We haven’t played cricket for almost two years in Sri Lanka. The idea is to give as many chances as possible. Opportunities for most of them will come in the three unofficial ODIs. As much as we want to win, we have to look at the development. It’s three ways, some we are grooming to give them a chance in the ODIs, some we are grooming for the Test matches to come against the West Indies and some as the development process.”

Sri Lanka ‘A’ are likely to get a similar track for today’s game and they will be hoping for better weather conditions over the next four days. There has been no rain experienced at Pallekele in the past three days and both teams will be trusting it remains that way.