Sri Lanka A fought back on the second day of their 4-day first unofficial test match with England Lions at Pallekele Stadium yesterday initially through a bright half-century from Sandun Weeerakkody and then with the ball as spinners Dilruwan Perera and Malinda Pushpakumara shared five wickets between them.
Despite the Lions securing a 149-run first-innings lead, they were in some difficulty second time around after being reduced to 85 for 6, before an unbroken partnership between brothers Sam and Tom Curran lifted them to a lead of 261 with four wickets standing.
Keaton Jennings, the Lions captain, was the only member of the top six to pass 16, as Dilruwan and Pushpakumara wheeled their way through 31 of the 40 overs possible before bad light brought an early close.
Toby Roland-Jones, who had struck 82 and taken two wickets in his first over on the first day, earlier claimed 4 for 51 as Sri Lanka A were dismissed for 167, although that score represented something of a recovery from their overnight position of 29 for 4.
Weerakkody began by taking the attack to the Lions, scoring the majority of the 29 added in 4.5 overs with his captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, before Tom Curran effected the run-out of the latter with a throw from mid-off. Weerakkody fell just before lunch, lbw to Ollie Rayner for 68 out of 109, but Dilruwan and Pushpakumara then added 45 for the seventh wicket to add further respectability to the score, before Roland-Jones and Rayner shared the last four.
Sitting on a comfortable lead, the Lions lost Haseeb Hameed for a duck - to go with his first-innings 4 - after he left a straight delivery from Lahiru Gamage. Dilruwan then had Nick Gubbins and Tom Westley lbw, before Pushpakumara claimed three in five overs as the tourists wobbled from 71 for 3 to 85 for 6 under gloomy skies.
Scores: England Lions 316 and 112-6 at close in 40 overs (K Jennings 37, D Perera 2/42, M Pushpakumara 3/28)
Sri Lanka A 167 in 47.4 overs (29/4 o/n) (S Weerakkody 68, D Perera 37, M Pushpakumara 26, T Roland-Jones 4/51, O Raynor 3/27)