By Srian Obeyesekere

The first four day unofficial Test match between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and New Zealand ‘A’ ended in a listless draw with the Kiwis having piled up 479 for a 98 first innings lead with the Lankans closing shutters on 168 for 4 in the second innings as Nuwanidu Fernando came to his own with a fluent unbeaten half century off 77 balls inclusive of 7 boundaries.
A feature of the match was New Zealand’s Curtis Heaphy and Tim Robinson striking rich centuries of 162 and 130 respectively in peppering the Lankan bowling attack.

Chief scores:

Sri Lanka ‘A’ 381and 168 for 4 wickets at close (Nishan Madushka 25, Lahiru Udara 39, Nuwanidu Fernando 50, Pavan Ratnayake 12, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 20, Sonal Dinusha 15, Tim Pringle,3/50)

New Zealand ‘A’ 479  (Curtis Heaphy 162, Tim Robinson 130, Matthew Boyle 26, Mitchell Hay 33, Tim Pringle 12, Fraser Sheat 61*, Isitha Wijesundara 2/56, Ramesh Mendis 2/105, Sonal Dinusha 2/72)