Prasanna, Karunaratne Star In Thumping SL A Win

Sri Lanka A bowlers took only 4.3 overs on the fourth morning to wrap up the West Indies A innings and their openers then zipped pass the target of 33 in quick time. The 10-wicket win gave the home side a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

West Indies' eighth-wicket pair of Shane Shillingford and Nikita Miller had avoided an innings defeat by lifting the team past Sri Lanka's score yesterday, but the team could only add 18 further runs on the fourth morning. Vishwa Fernando broke the 106-run stand in the sixth over of the morning with the wicket of Miller. In his next over, Fernando dismissed the remaining two batsmen to keep West Indies' lead to 32. Openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Jehan Mubarak then took only 4.3 overs to reach the target.

The stars of the win for Sri Lanka were Karunarate, whose century in the first innings had helped them put a strong total, and Seekugge Prasanna, who returned with a match haul of nine wickets.

The next match of the series is scheduled to start on October 18, in Matara.
(Cricinfo)