Pushpakumara stars in thrilling 3 wicket win

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Sri Lanka A vs England Lions

Sri Lanka A went through some anxious moments in a run chase of 90, but got there eventually for the loss of seven wickets. 

England resuming from their overnight score of 32/2, were strangled by the Sri Lanka A spinners once again as Malinda Pushpakumara led the way with his second five wicket haul of the game.

Liam Livingstone’s impressive tour continued when he struck his second century of the match to take the game deep into the final session on day four. He made 140* with 16 fours and a six while he got good support from Ben Foakes who chipped in with a half century as the pair put on a valuable 107 run stand for the sixth wicket to lift the England Lions to 284 all out, leaving the hosts 90 runs to get for an outright win.

Left arm tweaker Pushpakumara finished with figures of 5/78 and a match bag of 13/206 while Jeffrey Vandersay and Dhananjaya De Silva shared five wickets between them.

Sri Lanka A lost wickets at regular intervals in their run chase but a couple of useful cameos from Udara Jayasundara(32) and skipper De Silva(23)  meant the hosts reached their target in the 18th over of their second innings. Tom Curran kept the hosts in check as he picked up 4/38.

England Lions353 (97.5) Liam Livingstone 105, Tom Westley 68, Keaton Jennings 44, Ben Foakes 30, Malinda Pushpakumara 8/128  & 284 (92.1)Liam Livingstone 140*, Ben Foakes 54, Malinda Pushpakumara 5/78  
vs  
Sri Lanka A548 (135.2) Sadeera Samarawickrama 185, Dimuth Karunaratne 212, Dhananjaya de Silva 74, Toby Roland-Jones 3/67, Ollie Rayner 4/164  & 90/7 (17.4) Udara Jayasundera 32, Dananjaya de Silva 23, Tom Curran 4/38