Sri Lanka came out of their tour opener loss against Durham to more than compensate for that defeat with high class professionalism to snuff out Kent by a thumping 128 runs last Friday.
Skipper Angelo Mathews led the way with a scorching 50 and figured in a 84-run partnership with vice captain Lahiru Thirimanne before Dinesh Chandimal stepped up the accelerator for an unbeaten 31-ball 47 to take the contest away from Kent.
After Mathews had bludgeoned his way to a characteristic half century Thisara Perera joined Chandimal in a breezy 71-run stand for Sri Lanka to finish on 301 for 7 wickets.
Kent were then swept aside for 173 with Suranga Lakmal applying the brakes upfront with 2 wickets for 10 runs in his opening spell. Thisara Perera (3 for 16) and Ajantha Mendis 3 for 55 joined in the act as Kent lost their last 5 wickets for 25 runs as they perished from 148 for 5 at one stage.
Sri Lanka were beaten in their first warm-up fixture, a soggy, 21-over affair in Chelmsford, but with the sun shining over hop country they found the St Lawrence ground to be a more welcoming venue. Kent’s is probably the closest English ground to Colombo (though still 8,000km as the crow flies) and there were several Sri Lanka shirts on display in the crowd, as well as a flag being waved in the breeze on the Old Dover Road grass bank.
The vexed issue of Sri Lanka’s junior-senior question will not be solved by one tour match but, after Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene fell for scores between 30 and 35, the contributions from Nos. 5, 6 and 7 will have encouraged Marvan Attapatu, the team’s interim coach.
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