Sri Lanka A start with easy win

Sri Lanka A 291 for 7 (Gunawardene 68, Jayawardene 63*) beat British Universities 153 (Ramyakumara 3-17, Daniel 3-8) by 138 runs
Scorecard

Sri Lanka A began their month-long tour of England with an easy 138-run win over an outclassed British Universities side at Leicester.

Sri Lanka A, who included eight players with Test or one-day experience, were always in charge after they won the toss, batted, and rattled up 291 for 7 in their 50 overs. Avishka Gunawardene got them off to a good start with a 60-ball 68, and then Prasanna Jayawardene upped the tempo at the end of the innings with a well-struck 63 not out.

Although the Universities reached 47 for 1, they struggled to score at more than three an over and were always behind the clock, and that contributed to their eventual collapse. Left-armer Gayan Ramyakumara took 3 for 17 in nine overs to rip the heart out the middle order, and then Ian Daniel weighed in with 3 for 8 at the end.

But Michael Tissera, Sri Lanka A's manager, who was in Sri Lanka's side in the inaugural World Cup in 1975, warned his players against complacency. "The joyrides are over," he said. "If these boys want to get into the first team they will have to work."