London (AFP) – Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella both made fifties in Sri Lanka’s opening match of their tour of England as Essex teenager Aaron Beard had a first-class debut to remember on Sunday.
Mendis’s 66 and Dickwella’s 53 were the cornerstones of Sri Lanka’s total of 254 on the first day of three at Essex’s headquarters in Chelmsford, east of London.
But the day belonged to 18-year-old seamer Beard, who took four for 62 in 16 overs after Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews won the toss in the first of two warm-up matches before his side face England in the opening Test of a three-match series at Headingley on May 19.
At the close, Essex were 81 for two in reply.
Beard had Kaushal Silva caught behind with his fourth ball before Dimuth Karunaratne fell lbw to the novice paceman with the score on 16.
Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal then steadied the innings with a stand of 88 for the second wicket until the latter edged New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder to second slip.
Beard’s return sparked a Sri Lanka collapse that saw three wickets lost for 28 runs.
He had Mendis caught behind and bowled Milinda Siriwardana, with Dhananjaya de Silva falling lbw to Ryder.
Before stumps, Sri Lanka quick Dhammika Prasad had Essex opener Nick Browne lbw for 28 and Shaminda Eranga bowled nightwatchman Thomas Moore.
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