Sri Lanka ‘A’ took major honours in their drawn four-day unofficial Test match against visiting England Lions played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Chasing a huge 333-run target England Lions were 67/4 at one stage. However, Josh Bohannan struck an 86-ball 57 with 7 fours and Jack Haynes made 43 in 38 balls with 3 fours which helped them to force a draw by making 221 for 7 wickets by the close.

Paceman Milan Ratnayake did early damage by sending back openers Alex Lees ( 1), Skipper Haseeb Hameed ( 15) and Tom Haines (20) to have England struggling. Off spinner Lakshitha Manasinghe took 2 for 55 while paceman Amshi de Silva took 1 for 25. However, experienced leg spinner Lasith Embuldeniya who opened the attack with the new ball went wicketless giving away 82 runs in his 19-over spell.

Milan Ratnayake was the pick of the bowlers taking 3 for 31 in his 8 over spell.

Earlier, Sri Lanka A scored a mammoth second innings total of 663 for 9 wickets declared with opener Nishan Madushka leading the way with a superb knock of 241 which came in 423 balls with 25 fours and 4 sixes while skipper Nipun Dhananjaya stroked a fine century, making 128 in 170 balls with 18 fours and a six.

Madushka and Dhananjaya added 119 runs for the fourth wicket. At one stage Sri Lanka A were 653 for 4 wickets but with Dhananjaya’s dismissal, England Lions bowlers came back strongly to get 5 wickets and finally Sri Lanka A declared 663 for 9 wickets.

The 22 year old Sussex off-spinner Jack Carson finished with 4 for 173 in his 44.1-over spell while 24 year old leg spinner Liam Patterson took 3 for 231 in his 50-over spell.

The two teams will meet in their second four-day game from February 7 at the same venue.

Chief scores

Sri Lanka A: 136 and 663 for 9 wickets declared (Nishan Madushka 241, Oshada Fernando 114, Lakshitha Manasinghe 73, Nuwanidu Fernando 80, Nipun Dhananjaya 128, Liam Patterson 3/231, Jack Carson 4/173, Tom Abell 1/55)

England Lions: 467 and 221 for 7 wickets (Haseeb Hameed 15, Tom Haines 20, Tom Abell 11, Josh Bohannan 57, Jack Haynes 43, Jamie Smith 39*, Liam Patterson 25, Milan Ratnayake 3/31, Amshi de Silva 1/25, Lakshitha Manasinghe 2/55)