New Zealand v Sri Lanka - Tour Match

South Island v Sri Lankans
University Oval, Dunedin
3 Day Game
Umpires: DEA Copps & WT Martin
Toss: Sri Lankans

South Island: GT Dowling, *WA Hadlee, KR Rutherford, BF Hastings, NJ Astle, V Pollard, +WK Lees, TB Burtt, DR Hadlee, FJ Cameron, SB O'Connor.
Sri Lankans: RS Mahanama, UC Hathurusingha, RL Dias, PA de Silva, *A Ranatunga, HP Tillakaratne, +RS Kaluwitharana, JR Ratnayeke, HDPK Dharmasena, CPH Ramanayake, GP Wickramasinghe.

Sri Lanka's warm up game ahead of their two Test series against New Zealand was a turgid affair, played on a flat, unyielding surface in front of a sparse crowd at the University Oval. Roy Dias played the stand-out innings on the opening day, his 114 reviving the tourists' fortunes after they had slumped to 29-3, and his fourth wicket partnership of 179 with skipper Arjuna Ranatunga (84) underlined just what a toil it all was for the bowlers on this pitch. Tillakaratne and Kaluwitharana added a further 108 in enterprising fashion before stumps, and an overnight declaration closed the innings on 365-6, a total that the South Islanders would go on to match exactly over the course of the next four sessions.

A century from Roy Dias was one of few
highlights in a dull tour opener in Dunedin

Dowling dropped anchor to record a dour 84, and with Sri Lanka's attack looking every bit as toothless as their Kiwi counterparts, Rutherford, Astle and Lees all helped themselves to fifties, although it must be said that the visitors' bowlers did at least manage to keep the scoring rate down, with Wickramasinghe looking the pick of the bunch. Walter Hadlee declared at lunch on the final day with the scores level, and although the Sri Lankans wobbled somewhat in their second innings, stumbling to tea at 64-4, a robust 41 from Ranatunga allayed any fears of an embarrassing collapse and the game petered out into an inevitable draw, the tourists having crawled to 155-7 before rain ended proceedings mercifully early for the few spectators that had stayed on. The teams remain in Dunedin for the first Test, which is to be played at Carisbrook, and one can only hope that the Tests serve up more entertaining fare than the cricket that was on display here.

Score Summary
SL 1st Inns 365-6 dec. (Dias 114, Ranatunga 84, Tillakaratne 77*, Kaluwitharana 55)
SI 1st Inns 365-6 dec. (Dowling 84, Astle 83, Rutherford 63, Lees 57*)
SL 2nd Inns 155-7 (Ranatunga 41)

MATCH DRAWN

1st & 2nd innings scorecards (click to enlarge)

Close of Play

Day 1 - Sri Lankans 1st innings 365-6 (Tillakaratne 77*, Ratnayeke 11*; 96 ov)
Day 2 - South Island 1st innings 257-5 (Astle 26*, Lees 6*; 92 ov)
Day 3 - Sri Lankans 2nd innings 155-7 (65.5 ov) - end of match