SCOTLAND’S hopes of recording a win over a Full Member during the Summer Internationals was dampened by the rain during a day at The Grange that experienced it all.
Winning the toss and electing to field, Kyle Coetzer’s men toiled as Sri Lanka’s openers raced to 123-0 after 22.1 overs, despite an excellent five-over spell from Brad Wheal (first spell figures of 0-5-0-12) and a couple of dropped catches.
Leask, missing from the only game played during the rain-affected Afghanistan series, was brought into the attack in the 23rd over and took a wicket with his first ball – removing Fernando for 74 after he slog-swept to George Munsey at deep square leg who took a great catch diving forward.
Scotland then entered a brief period of resurgence, their next scalps came when the Sri Lankan skipper, Karunaratne, had to depart for a well-made 77 as Wheal finally picked up a reward for his efforts, Gavin Main (sub-fielder) taking a tumbling catch to leave Sri Lanka 204/2 after 33.3 overs.
Wheal struck again two balls later, removing Perera for a duck to bring Scotland back into the game at 204/3 after 33.5 overs.
A string of dot balls, thanks to the efforts of spinners Mark Watt and Tom Sole at each end, brought about the team’s fourth wicket as Angelo Mathews came down the track to Tom Sole and finding Michael Leask on the boundary to leave Sri Lanka 210/4 after 36.4 overs.
Scotland regularly took wickets throughout the rest of the innings, causing Sri Lanka to slip from 204/2 to 280/7 after 47.2 overs.
BKG Mendis hit 66 before succumbing to a Safyaan Sharif (10-0-76-2) yorker, de Silva delivered the ball perfectly to Tom Sole on the boundary off the bowling of Mark Watt for 7 (10-0-61-1) and BMAJ Mendis flicked to George Munsey at long-off to gift Sharif’s second wicket after striking 13 from 8.
Despite the flurry of wickets, Sri Lanka struck a blistering 35 runs from the last two overs to propel themselves to 322/8 after 50 overs on a batsmen-friendly Grange surface.
In response, Kyle Coetzer’s men got off to a solid start in the basking sunshine with openers Cross and Coetzer racing to 51/0 after 10 overs in front of a good Edinburgh crowd.
The skipper was the first to depart, falling victim to an excellent bouncer from Pradeep for 34. Coetzer’s knock, which included seven 4s, was brought undone as he attempted to hook the ball over the rope, but finding Thirimanne at deep square leg instead.
Calum MacLeod was able to add only one-run to Scotland’s tally before he too fell to Pradeep, the ball just clipping the stumps ever so slightly to remove one bail as MacLeod looked to drive on the up.
With two of Scotland’s most established batsman back in the dugout, Craig Wallace and Matthew Cross provided some form of resistance with a 43-run stand before Wallace (18) edged through to the keeper, attempting to guide the ball down to third man just as the rain hit The Grange.
After an hour’s delay, play resumed with a revised target of 235 (103 runs from seven overs) with George Munsey and Matthew Cross at the crease looking to hit the required 15+ runs an over.
Munsey, as he is becoming known for, wasted no time in getting Scotland back on track, helping himself to 18 runs including two 4s and one 6.
Cross (55) fell to Lakmal soon after the restart, miscuing a shot to Fernando at long-on after 28.4 overs, leaving it all to do at 153/4 when Michael Leask strolled to the middle to join Munsey.
Michael Leask made his presence known to the Sri Lanka side right away, smashing a six first-ball to give the Scotland side some hope in their run chase with Munsey at the other end.
However, Leask could only add 8 runs before falling to Lakmal after failing to clear the fielder at long-off whilst going for the big hit. Scotland started to lose quick wickets in their quest of hitting the ever-increasing number of runs required per over.
Sole, Sharif, Watt, Evans and Wheal could only manage 14 runs between them before Wheal was run-out without facing to secure a 35-run win for Sri Lanka.
