T20 World Cup warm-ups: Chameera, Karunaratne star for Sri Lanka; Ireland, Scotland also notch up wins

Kaleemullah roars a loud appeal for lbw
October 12, 2021

Sri Lanka's lower order bailed them out from a precarious situation to secure a tight win over Bangladesh.

Chasing 148, Sri Lanka had slumped to 79 for 6 in 12 overs, before Avishka Fernando (62 off 42 balls) and Chamika Karunaratne (29 off 25 balls) put together an unbroken 69-run stand to seal victory with one overt to spare. The pair, only two nights ago, had rescued Sri Lanka in a tricky chase against Oman in a T20I.

Bangladesh's own innings was in a fair degree of disarray. They had Soumya Sarkar to thank for lifting them to a formidable total. Sarkar top scored with 34 off 26 balls, even as Bangladesh's other batters floundered with none of the others crossing the unbeaten 16 made by Mahedi Hasan and Liton Das.

Dushmantha Chameera, fresh off an IPL stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore, impressed immediately upon linking up with the squad, picking 3 for 27.

Ireland were too strong for Papua New Guinea, registering an eight-wicket win as the sides started their preparations for the men's T20 World Cup with a warm-up fixture in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

PNG elected to bat and limped to 49 for 2 by the 12th over before the floodgates opened. Ben White, the legspinner, ripped through the middle-order to finish with 3 for 10 off his four overs. It included the big strike of PNG captain Assad Vala, also the top-scorer in the innings, with 32. It looked like the innings would unravel quickly after that, but Norman Vanua's unbeaten 14-ball 18, which included the only six of the innings, kept them going. Craig Young, the seamer, polished the lower order to also finish with a three-for.

Ireland lost Kevin O'Brien and Gareth Delany in the space of an over, but were driven home by Andy Balbirnie, the captain, and Curtis Campher, who both hit unbeaten 42s and put together an unbroken stand of 71.

Fast bowler Mark Watt and legspinner Chris Greaves picked up four wickets apiece as Scotland bundled Netherlands out for 90 to carve out a 32-run win.

Scotland started slowly, but were helped along by Calum MacLeod, who top scored with an unbeaten 32 from No. 4. Michael Leask then injected some late momentum with a 26-ball 30 to help them recover to post 122 for 6.

Netherlands lost a clutch of wickets in trying to go after the bowling and were soon reduced to 62 for 5, when their most experienced batter Ryan ten Doeschate was out for 3. That became 67 for 6 shortly after when Roelof van der Merwe was bowled. It turned to be a decisive blow.

Oman rode on useful hands with the bat from Aqib Ilyas and captain Zeeshan Maqsood and a strong bowling display led by Kaleemullah and Khawar Ali to beat Namibia by 32 runs in their warm-up fixture.

Oman opted to bat after winning the toss, but though they didn't have a prominent individual contribution or a major partnership - the 45-run stand between Ilyas and Ayaan Khan for the second wicket was the best - they had enough to put up a solid 152 for 8 on the board. Ilyas scored 30 in 20 balls, and Maqsood, 29 in 26 balls. For Namibia, Ruben Trumpelmann, the left-arm quick, and part-timer Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, picked up two wickets each.

Namibia's reply was headlined by the third-wicket partnership of 45 between Zane Green (27 in 31 balls) and captain Gerhard Erasmus (32 in 33), but there wasn't a lot else as Kaleemullah, the right-arm medium pacer, returned 4 for 23 and legspinner Khawar had 2 for 7 from two overs. It was only Trumpelmann's nine-ball 20*, with two sixes, from No. 11 that gave their total a bit of heft.

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