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Sri Lanka grabbed some early tour momentum with an easy one-day victory against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra yesterday.
The Sri Lankans won by four wickets with 18 overs to spare after the locals failed to offer a decent target, scoring just 152 before being bowled out in 38 overs.
Ashley Noffke (30) top scored for the PM’s XI, combining with Doug Bollinger for a partnership of 33 that rescued the innings from embarrassment.
Man of the match Lasith Malinga took 3-33 in a display that should send a warning to Australia ahead of next month’s one-day tri-series.
Farveez Maharoof and Ishara Amarasinghe also chimed in, taking five wickets between them.
It was an impressive display from a bowling attack minus Test cricket’s greatest wicket-taker, Muttiah Muralitharan.
“I got the ball in the right area,” Malinga said.
“I was very happy.”
The batting display from the Sri Lankans was no less impressive. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s brash 75 was well supported by the old giant of the one-day game Sanath Jayasuriya chiming in with 43 of 48 balls.
New South Wales paceman Doug Bollinger did himself no favours if he is looking to replace Shaun Tait in the Test squad.
Bollinger returned the horror figures of 1-55 off 8.5 overs. He was mercilessly punished by all the Sri Lanka batsmen but did claw back a little pride with the scalp of Jayasuriya.
Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene was pleased with the win but said there were a few rough edges to be polished ahead of the tri-series.
“We need to fine tune our game,” said Jayawardene, who felt his bowlers should have extracted more from a wicket that showed a little movement early on.
He also said the batsmen needed more time in the middle.
“We should have finished the game three down.”
Victorian Cameron White, captain of the PM’s XI, said winning was not as important as the experience for a side filled with future Test hopefuls.
“We weren’t that far (from a win) in the end (but) 150 in a one-dayer is not enough.”
The Sri Lankans now head to Tasmania for another tour match on Saturday before their first tri-series match against India in Brisbane on Tuesday.
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