An unbeaten knock of 65 in 76 balls with four boundaries by Nipun Dhananjaya helped Sri Lanka ‘A’ coast to an easy six-wicket win over the visiting England Lions in the deciding unofficial ODI encounter played at the R. Premadasa Stadium today.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ in pursuit of a 167-run target suffered a similar start as the visitors, losing two early wickets, before Dhananjaya together with Lahiru Udara helped the home side recover, thanks to a valuable 48-run partnership for the third wicket.

They were separated with the dismissal of Udara for 21.

Dhananjaya shared a brief 29-run stand for the fourth wicket with skipper Sadeera Samaraweera who chipped in with 23.

That was all the success that England Lions were able to achieve however, as Dhananjaya and Sahan Arachchige guided the hosts to victory by sharing an unbroken 65-run stand for the fifth wicket and to clinch the three-match series.

England Lions taking first lease of the wicket were made to work hard for their runs and by the ninth over they had lost two wickets with just 32 runs on the board. 

Opener Jacob Bethell along with Tom Prest seemed to settle down but their brief partnership came to an end after adding 32 runs.

Bethell featured in another brief stand of 28 runs for the fourth wicket with James Rew before he was dismissed having made 50 with four boundaries and a six.

At the halfway stage of the innings the visitors were badly placed on 94 for 4 and with no significant partnerships coming their way, and the tail being unable to make any impression, the Lions were bowled out for 166 runs. The visitors lost their last five wickets for the addition of only 57 runs.

For Sri Lanka ‘A’ pacie Isitha Wijesundara and spinner Dushan Hemantha shared six wickets between them and were supported by Suminda Lakshan who bagged two scalps.

Scores:

England Lions 166 in 45 overs (Jacob Bethell 50, Jordan Cox 31, Tom Hartley 22, James Rew 15: Isitha Wijesundara 3 for 14, Dushan Hemantha 3 for 27, Suminda Lakshan 2 for 20)

Sri Lanka ‘A’ 167 for 4 in 32.1 overs (Sadeera Samarawickrma 23, Lahiru Udara 21, Lasith Croospulle 18, Nipun Dhananjaya 65 n.o., Sahan Arachchige 22 n.o.: Mason Crane 2 for 41). By M. Shamil Amit