Tour match, Colombo (day two, lunch): Sri Lanka Board XI 298-9d v England 61-4
Left-arm duo Sujeewa de Silva and Chanaka Welegedara created havoc at Colombo's Nondescripts Cricket Club, swinging the ball at pace to earn their dismissals. De Silva, playing here for Sri Lanka Cricket's President XI, is also in the 14-man Test squad. And he struck first, beating a defensive push from Vaughan to clip the stumps. He then culminated the charmed but short innings of Bell, who was dropped at slip and then caught off a no-ball, by finding the inside edge on the way through to wicket-keeper Kaushal Silva. When Welegedara had Pietersen caught behind in the next over, the seventh of the innings, England were 21-3. Opener Cook had provided the bulk of that total, having leg-glanced the first delivery of the second morning for four.
Although a couple of his six boundaries were through the gap between third slip and gully, Cook also clipped handsomely through the on-side twice when de Silva strayed. It took the introduction of Kaushal Lokuarachchi to end a 23-run stand between Cook and Owais Shah, whose contribution to the share was zero. A missed sweep by Cook resulted in a leg-before decision. Shah got off the mark from his 34th delivery, in fact, thanks to a misfield, having been joined at the crease by Ravi Bopara, his rival for the number six spot in the first Test. Bopara survived a confident lbw shout second ball to boost the scoring rate with a rare boundary moments after Shah had found the rope for the first time with a fierce pull off the returning de Silva. Meanwhile, fast bowler Steve Harmison spent the morning receiving treatment for his back spasm, after pulling up in mid-over yesterday. The President's XI declared on their overnight score of 298-9.
Source: BBC Sport
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