Kalpage (6/51) spins out Windies 'A' for 220
Sri Lanka discard Ruwan Kalpage returned career-best figures of 6 for 51 to spin West Indies 'A' out for 220 on the opening day of second 4-day unofficial cricket Test at the SSC grounds, Wednesday.
By the close Sri Lanka 'A' had replied with 67 for one wicket losing opener Chaminda Mendis for 20 to a sharp rising delivery from Cameron Cuffy which he edged to the wicket-keeper.
Duleep Samaraweera was unbeaten at the close on a well compiled 30 in 91 minutes with four fours and 'nightwatchman' Wendell Labrooy on nought having survived a torrid over from Cuffy.
CAMEO PERFORMANCE
The 90-minute cameo performance put up by openers Stuart Williams and Philo Wallace turned out to be a camouflage as West Indies 'A' put into bat first by Skipper Sanjeeva Ranatunga, lost their last wickets for 47 runs _ all to Kalpage.
Williams and Wallace flayed the Sri Lanka new ball attack of Pramodya Wickremasinghe and Labrooy to raise an opening partnership of 104 off 107 balls.
Wallace who has scored two successive centuries on the tour so far was in a aggressive mood punishing Labrooy for 22 runs (4 fours and 1 six) off the bowler's first over. West Indies raced to 51 for no loss off just 32 balls and one wondered whether it was a one-day contest that was taking place.
FIRST SPELL
Wickremasinghe's first spell of four overs cost him 34 runs (5 fours, 1 six) and Labrooy's first four overs 47 runs (5 fours, 3 sixes). Wallace completed his half-century off 36 balls in 56 minutes with six fours and three sixes out of a total of 96.
Ranatunga checked the run flow by introducing a double spin attack of Jayantha Silva and Kalpage. Silva achieved the initial break-through by having Wallace caught in the slips for 56 scored at a run a ball.
ANOTHER WICKET
Sri Lanka 'A' claimed another wicket on the stroke of lunch when Wickremasinghe returning for his third spell, forced Williams to edge a catch to Nawaz at second slip. Williams scored 52 in two hours with one six and seven fours.
Wickremasinghe continued his impressive spell after the lunch break by sending back Floyd Reifer for one and vice-captain David Joseph for three.
Skipper Roger Harper halted the slide with Tony Powell by putting together a fifth wicket partnership of 53 before Kalpage came on to take the honours away from the West Indies.
SUPERB SPELL
In a superb second spell of 13.5 overs, Kalpage took six wickets for 39 runs to have all the West Indies back in the pavilion by the 65th over.
It was a fine piece of off-spin bowling by Kalpage who would have done himself a lot of good in earning a recall to the senior side with this performance. Unfortunately for him, Sri Lanka do not have any international engagements until March next year after the Sharjah tournament. But one hopes the national selectors will earmark him when future selections are made.
EXCEPTION
None of the West Indies batsmen with the exception of Harper, himself an off-spinner, played Kalpage with any comfort. They were totally bemused by the amount of spin and variation Kalpage subjected them to.
The six-wicket haul was not only Kalpage's best in first-class cricket, but it also took him past 200 first-class wickets in an eight- year career.
Providing Kalpage with excellent support was Wickramasinghe who is also keen to impress the selectors for a recall to the national side. After a poor opening spell, Wickremasinghe found his line and length right and his third spell of five overs for 3 for 14 tells how well he bowled.
SOYSA UNFIT
Fast bowler Nuwan Soysa was declared unfit and Labrooy was drafted into the side as the only change from the side named on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka 'A' are trailing 1-0 in the three-match series, having lost the first Test at Kurunegala by 10 wickets.
====> Day 2 (13 November 1996)
Sri Lanka 'A' vs West Indies 'A' : Harper, Lewis spin out SL 'A'
For the second day running, spinners took the honours in the second unofficial cricket Test between Sri Lanka 'A' and West Indies 'A' at the SSC grounds.
On a pitch assisting spin, West Indies 'A' skipper Roger Harper (off-breaks) and Rawl Lewis (leg-breaks) bowled unchanged since lunch to take eight wickets between them to dismiss Sri Lanka 'A' for 287. This was in reply to West Indies 'A's first innings of 220.
By the close yesterday, West Indies 'A' had wiped out the first innings deficit of 67 runs by scoring the exact amount for no loss, through their openers Stuart Williams (29) and Philo Wallace (29).
The game now stands at a very interesting stage with two days remaining.
So far, spinners have dictated the course of the match capturing 15 of the 20 wickets to fall.
Harper followed the performance of one of his kind, Ruwan Kalpage (who took 6 for 51 on the first day) by claiming 5 for 61 off 31.3 overs. Lewis proved an ideal foil to him to finish with 3 for 87 off 23 overs. The two bowled in harness since lunch to capture the last six wickets for 67 runs and make certain Sri Lanka did not gain a substantial first innings lead.
Considering the amount of turn the spinners extracted out of the SSC surface any kind of lead on the first innings could be considered a bonus.
Having dismissed West Indies 'A' for 220, Sri Lanka 'A' needed to consolidate the position given them by their bowlers on the first day. unfortunately, only Duleep Samaraweera displayed the concentration and application to play a big innings. The rest of the top order batsmen with the exception of Mahela Jayawardena, who was out to a poor shot, all got into the twenties and thirties, but none showed the patience to convert those figures into a big score.
The majority of Sri Lanka 'A's runs were made while Samaraweera was at the wicket. In fact 182 runs came while he was batting for 253 minutes. Samaraweera's contribution in that time was a well constructed innings of 73 off 166 balls with nine fours.
Having put on 63 for the first wicket with Chaminda Mendis on the first day, Samaraweera was further involved in stands of 49 with 'nightwatchman' Wendell Labrooy (23) and left-hander Naveed Nawaz (36), before Lewis had him edging a catch to Harper in the slips.
Harper and Lewis tied the rest of the Sri Lanka 'A' batsmen down so much that only 79 runs were scored in the afternoon session off 28 overs during which period Sri Lanka 'A' lost four wickets.
Kalpage went on the offensive hitting an unbeaten 34 off 44 balls with two sixes and an equal number of fours, but ran out of partners in the end. He could only watch helplessly, as Harper finished off the Sri Lanka'A' innings poised for a hat-trick.
The West Indies 'A' captain took the wickets of Wickremasinghe and Jayantha Silva off successive balls and needs to take a wicket with his first ball in the Sri Lanka second innings to complete the hat-trick.
====> Day 3 (14 November 1996)
Kalpage match bag of 12 wickets
Former Test all-rounder Ruwan Kalpage gave Sri Lanka 'A' a chance of squaring the 3-Test unofficial series against West Indies 'A' by taking a match haul of 12 wickets on the third day of the 4day 'Test' played at the SSC grounds yesterday.
In another tantalising spell of off-spin bowling, Kalpage spun West Indies 'A' out a second time for 231 by taking six wickets for 62 runs off 29.3 overs, to add to his first innings figures of 6 for 51 off 19.5 overs.
SAMARAWEERA OUT
Sri Lanka 'A' left with the task of scoring 165 runs for victory with plenty of time on their hands, ended the day on 34 for the loss of Duleep Samaraweera's wicket for 15.
When bad light chipped off nine of the 24 overs, Chaminda Mendis and Naveed Nawaz were at the crease on 11 and seven respectively.
Sri Lanka 'A' require a further 131 runs with nine wickets in hand and a whole day ahead of them today (90 overs) to beat West Indies 'A' and go to the third and final 'Test' of the series at Matara on Wednesday, all square.
Nothing went right for Sri Lanka 'A' in the morning session when West Indies 'A' resumed on 67 for no loss. In a pathetic display of catching they dropped West Indies 'A's in-form opening batsman Philo Wallace four times before he reached fifty.
UNFORTUNATE
The unfortunate bowler on all four instances was Pramodya Wickremasinghe, who bowled a superb morning spell to beat the bat of both Wallace and his fellow-opener Stuart Williams several times without finding the edge. On top of it all, the fielders let him down badly by dropping those catches and one had to sympathise with Wickremasinghe.
Wallace, swung the first ball of the day to long leg where Wendell Labrooy failed to hold the catch and the ball went over the line for six. Four balls later Nawaz put down a 'sitter' at first slip. Further misfortune followed when Wallace, riding his luck, kept on chancing his arm. At 39, Mendis put down another simple chance at deep square leg, and at 49, Labrooy let off Wallace once again at long leg.
UNBEATEN
Wallace went to lunch unbeaten on 67 out of a West Indies 'A' total of 130 for one - the only wicket of the session being taken by Kalpage when he had Williams caught off bat and pad by Samaraweera for 29.
Wallace finally fell to Wickremasinghe soon after the lunch break, when he got the leading edge on the drive and spooned up a simple catch to Sanjeeva Ranatunga at cover point. Wallace made 71 in 212 minutes with two sixes and six fours, facing 128 balls.
His dismissal opened the flood gates for a West Indies collapse in the afternoon session. They lost five wickets for 43 runs with spinners Kalpage and Jayantha Silva sharing four wickets between them.
RESISTANCE
The only form of resistance came with the seventh wicket pair Shane Ford and Ottis Gibson, who added 42 useful runs. That partnership materialised because a chance went a begging. Wicketkeeper Chamara Dunusinghe failed to affect an easy stumping off his vis-a-vis Ford, when he was on 12.
Although Ford did not go on to make a big score, he was able to help the big-hitting Gibson gather valuable runs for his side. Gibson thumped three massive sixes off Kalpage - two of them clean out of the ground in compiling a useful 39 off 46 balls. He was eventually bowled around his legs by Silva without offering a stroke.
After Gibson's departure, the West Indies tail folded up rather tamely the last three wickets going for just 10 runs in 13 balls.
Silva picked up three wickets, but Wickremasinghe's figures of one for 70 off 19 overs doesn't tell the true story of how well he bowled.
====> Day 4 (16 November 1996)
Sri Lanka 'A' lose second unofficial Test by 70 runs ; Windies skipper Harper has match-bag of 9 for 87
West Indies 'A' take unbeatable 2-nil lead in series
Young Sri Lankan Test aspirants gave a poor batting display and they slumped to a disastrous 95 all out two overs after the lunch interval to hand over the touring West Indies 'A' team their second consecutive win by 70 runs in the second of the three unofficial Test match series at the SSC grounds yesterday.
The West Indians won the first test played at Kurunegala, but, yesterday's win was also convincing, although it was a low scoring match dominated by the spinners of either side.
The Sri Lankan 'A' batsmen were overawed by the West Indian spin duo - skipper Roger Harper (off spin) and Rawl Lewis left-arm leg spin when they took four wickets each in the second innings. Harper had the match bag of 9 for 87 and Lewis 8 for 110.
None of the Sri Lankan batsmen produced an innings of substance.Most of them got out to careless shots when the situation required watchfulness.
Sri Lanka began the day with 131 runs to win with 90 overs at their disposal, after being 34 for 1 overnight. Their victory target was 165. Disaster struck for the Lankans in the first two overs in the morning. Cuffy, in his first over, had Chaminda Mendis caught by Wallace at square-leg in the fourth ball without any addition to the overnight score. In the next over sent by Harper, Naveed Nawaz going to force a shot off his back foot edged one into the slips and Powell took the catch.
These two early exits put the rest of the batsmen under considerable pressure. Harper manipulated his team well with fine field placements and Sri Lanka had to work hard for every run. Only Saman Jayantha, batted with some confidence before he was caught by Harper at 'point' to a sharp turning lifter by Lewis. He had three fours and faced 47 deliveries. Mahela Jayawardena who was promoted in the batting order, did not last long when David Joseph brought off a stunning catch at mid wicket off Lewis and with the dismissals of skipper Sanjeeva Ranatunga (4) and Ruwan Kalpage (4) Sri Lanka's slim chances of survival simply disappeared.
At lunch Sri Lanka 'A' were 93 for 8 with tail enders Wendell Labrooy and Pramodya Wickremasinghe at the wicket and it was just a matter of time when the curtain would come down for them.
With the exception of paceman Cuffy, who had a couple of overs Harper and Lewis bowled throughout the morning session. Harper had the final figures of 4 for 26 off 15.4 overs and Lewis 4 for 23 off 11 overs.
The winning side received Rs. 25,000.00, losers Rs. 15,000.00 and Man-of-the-Match Ruwan Kalpage received Rs. 10,000.00 from the sponsors Bank of Ceylon.
S. de S. Mutukumarana Assistant General Manager (Business Development) was the chief guest and gave away the prizes.