Only 63 overs were possible on a weather affected day in Guildford as Surrey play host to a Sri Lanka Development XI. The first of the four days could only begin in earnest at 14:30pm in the afternoon but an exciting brand of cricket more than made up for the lost time.
Captaining the side, Surrey’s Cameron Steel won the toss and elected to field, sticking the visitors in with the clouds still hanging ominously and sunshine only threatening to burst through in the early afternoon.
23 year old Sri Lankan opener Lasith Croospulle came out with plenty of intent at the top of the innings, playing with lots of confidence and no little extravagance as he flicked, pulled and drove with style, taking ten off one Gus Atkinson over, including a maximum, and then hitting the Surrey bowler for three fours in his following over. Surrey’s bowlers held their nerve in the face of such stroke-making and Croospulle fell for 32 to Tom Lawes, feathering a catch behind off a good length delivery that lifted and left the opener just enough to take the edge.
Highlights of a truncated day in Guildford 🎥 🍿 👇 pic.twitter.com/MMDOh270TC
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) May 20, 2022
Lawes picked up the first three wickets to fall. Croospulle’s fellow opener, A Perera, was well caught by Ryan Patel in the slips off another outside edge induced and similarly, number three batter Madushka departed in almost identical fashion, albeit he was trying to withdraw the blade.
Captain Nipun Dananjaya Perera played a solid innings to end the day on 81* off 126 balls after three hours of batting and he was ably supported by Avishka Tharindu who made his way to 48 before playing a loose waft to Ryan Patel to fall just before the close.
Amar Virdi picked up a brace of wickets and bowled nicely to keep the pressure on the Sri Lankan batting unit. With three more days to go in Guildford and the weather set fairer the early signs are that it will be an enthralling contest between the two sides.
A live stream of the match will be available on the Surrey website each day and updates will be provided throughout the day as well as short highlights and a report at the close. To see the scorecard and ball by ball highlights visit NV Play.
