Sri Lanka subsided to a seven-wicket defeat in just over three days against England Lions in their only warm-up game for the upcoming Test series between the two nations.
Rob Yates scored an unbeaten half-century as the England junior side knocked off the runs on the morning of day four at New Road. Sri Lanka were able to make just the one breakthrough before the end of the game, Hamzah Shaikh was trapped lbw by Milan Rathnayake for 16, before Somerset's James Rew finished the job and hit the winning runs.
Sri Lanka had been on the backfoot from the off having been bowled out for 139 on day one, before conceding a 185-run deficit after the Lions scored 324. They were led by a superb 91 from Shaikh, as well as 78 off 96 balls from Kasey Aldridge batting at eight.
While Sri Lanka had rallied on day three to post 306 in their second innings - Farhan Ahmed, younger brother of Rehan Ahmed, taking three wickets - the Lions only required 122 runs for victory. They finished on 47-2 at the end of day three, requiring only 75 runs more on the final day.
The result is troubling for Sri Lanka less than a week away from the first Test match of the series at Old Trafford. Their side was mostly at full strength, with no current senior England players present in the Lions XI.
For the Test series, England will be missing the services of both Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley, the former of which tore his hamstring while playing in The Hundred, and the latter having broken his finger in the final Test match against the West Indies last month. Ollie Pope will captain England in Stokes' absence.
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