Cricket: Sri Lanka's late collapse puts England in control

Sri Lanka A 235-8 v England A

James Ormond gave his most assured international performance to date to put England A in a strong position on the opening day of the third and final unofficial Test yesterday.

The 20-year-old Leicestershire fast bowler has struggled to make an impact on the dry, flat pitches of the sub-continent but yesterday he rediscovered his rhythm to claim 4 for 38 and restrict Sri Lanka A to a modest 235 for 8 after they chose to bat.

The Warwickshire left-arm spinner Ashley Giles earned England the early breakthrough by bowling Dulip Samaraweera, but after the early spin success England persevered with their seam attack and were rewarded when Ormond struck twice to remove Sanjeeva Ranatunga and Hashan Tillakaratne.

Ben Hollioake made further inroads five overs later by trapping Manoj Mendis leg-before.

Sri Lanka's hopes were increasingly resting on their opener Chandika Hathursinghe, who battled for nearly four hours to reach 90 and hit 16 boundaries before being bowled by Dean Cosker.

Ormond then claimed two further victims as Sri Lanka lost three wickets for seven runs in the final four overs of the day.

First day of four; Sri Lanka A won toss

SRI LANKA A - First Innings

D P Samaraweera b Giles 22

U C Hathursinghe b Cosker 90

S Ranatunga b Ormond 12

*H P Tillakaratne c Read b Ormond 11

M C Mendis lbw b Hollioake 9

P Hewage c and b Ormond 44

B de Silva c Ealham b Hollioake 31

P Jayawardene lbw b Ormond 0

N Bandartilleke not out 6

G P Wickramasinghe not out 0

Extras (lb3, w2, nb5) 10

Total (for 8, 90 overs) 235

Fall: 1-64, 2-91, 3-107, 4-116, 5-165, 6-225, 7-225, 8-232.

To bat: M Bandara.

Bowling: Hollioake 20-6-59-2; Ormond 18-5-38-4; Ealham 10-4-25-0; Giles 20-4-35-1; Powell 5-0-28-0; Cosker 17-5-47-1.

ENGLAND A: *N V Knight, D L Maddy, O A Shah, M A Ealham, D J G Sales, B C Hollioake, A F Giles, C M W Read, J Ormond, J C Powell, D A Cosker.

Umpires: M M Mendis and S Amarasinghe.