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Despite Best Lanka ‘A’ at their best
Daminda Wijesuriya reporting from Dambulla
Despite a hostile spell full of fury by paceman Tino Best, Sri Lanka 'A' inched towards their desired goal but still were190 runs away from victory in the first unofficial test against the West Indies ‘A’.

Chasing a challenging target of 316 to win, Sri Lanka 'A' were 126 for 2 at close of play yesterday, the third day of the match. At the crease were skipper Russell Arnold coming back into form at 36 not out and Michael Vandort unbeaten on 47.

The two batsmen held the innings together with an unbroken third wicket partnership of 88 runs surviving many appeals from the visitors. However the two umpires, Tyrrone Wijewardene and Gamini Silva turned them down without the slightest hesitation. However, fast bowler Dwight Washington was apparently unhappy for turning down an appeal of LBW off Vandort when he was only on five.

Vandort and Arnold hit five and six fours respectively but their task is yet to be completed. Sri Lanka 'A' is left with 90 overs and eight wickets in hand to reach home.

Tino Best, bowled best for the tourists yesterday, claiming two for 21 in his first spell of four overs which saw Jehan Mubarak and Malintha Gajanayake back in the dressing room. In the meantime Avishka Gunawrdene was hit by an express delivery from Best and the southpaw was back in the pavilion without being dismissed. However Sri Lanka 'A' manager, Mr. Anura Tennakoon confirmed that the opener may not need any X-rays although his right forearm is badly bruised.

Bowling flat-out in two short spells, Best too paid a heavy price as he injured his leg and returned to the pavilion after sending down only 2.4 overs in his second spell. This was a severe blow to the tourists and Sri Lankan batsmen have to keep their fingers crossed until today morning to see if Best will be at his best again.

In the first half of the day followed by their first Innings heroics, left arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon and off spinner Suraj Mohammed shared five wickets to restrict West Indies 'A' for 278 in their second innings.
Sri Lanka 'A' struggled to get the last two wickets for more than one and half hours as wicket keeper batsman Carlton Baugh (70), Dwight Washington (10 not out) and Jermene Lawson (29) dragged the score by 76 runs in the second innings.

Winning the best bowler's award in the last premier season with 50 wickets to his credit, Weerakoon came back to the 'A' team's playing XI after carrying water for four test matches against England 'A' and Pakistan 'A' earlier this year. He gave a clear massage to the selectors that a left arm orthodox bowler still have a role to play, by claiming a match bag of nine wickets for 120 runs.

Wicket keeper batsman Carlton Baugh played a typical first class innings and accumulated 70 runs to delay Sri Lanka 'A' bat again. His 140 minutes long innings contained six boundaries but the most important factor was his contribution to the eighth wicket with Dwight Washington. Washington, coming one man before the last, hang around 73 minutes in the crease to score just four runs while his senior Carlton Baugh did most of the scoring. Taking the responsibility of keeping wickets intact, Baugh stole a single in the last two delivers of the every over as the tourists were creating pressure for home side minute by minute.The second new ball helped Sri Lanka 'A' to send Baugh back to the pavilion but the last wicket pair extended the target by yet another 35 runs.

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