Sri Lanka A T20 Match Report

A solid opening innings from Ireland was not enough to overcome Sri Lanka A on Sunday at the Nondescripts Cricket Ground in Colombo. Ireland batted strongly with five players scoring 20 or more, and opener William Porterfield finishing with a strike rate of 150.00. This was not enough, as an all-round team effort from Sri Lanka won the match with one of the allotted twenty overs remaining.

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field. Ireland's other opener Niall O'Brien, only lasted two and a half overs and eight balls before being caught for six. Luckily, this did not hinder progress too much, as Andre Botha stepped in to take over. Porterfield was lbwed for 24, Botha and Alex Cusack both ended with 20, and Ireland were 91 for 4 after just 12 overs. Andrew White batted extremely well to keep the score and run rate high scoring 39 off 37 balls. Gary Wilson and John Mooney stayed in until the end, with Mooney hitting 3 off 4 balls, and Wilson scoring a marvellous 28 not out (from just 25 balls). Ireland set a score of 147, at 7.35 runs per over.

Sri Lanka's batting collapsed early, and they were only on a score of 54 with five wickets taken after 7.4 overs. However, Seekkugge Presanna, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, and Jeewan Mendis performed magnificently to bring Sri Lanka back from the brink and win the match with just six balls remaining. Presanna's 28 off 15 balls was extremely impressive.

Phil Eaglestone had been been drafted into the Ireland squad to provide extra bite with the ball, and even though he took out opener Milinda Siriwardana, he only lasted two overs, giving away an astonishing 28 runs. Nigel Jones and John Mooney were others who needed to keep their economy down, giving away far too many runs for a Twenty20 cricket match.

Trent Johnston and George Dockrell were the best of the bowlers, taking two wickets each and only allowing 4.33 and 5.00 runs per over. Alex Cusack also bowled well, taking two wickets himself, including the menacing Jayasinghe.

It was not Ireland's day however, as a strong all-round performance gave the hosts victory.