Sri Lanka enjoyed a productive final day of their warm-up match against a South African Invitation XI with Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga and Dinesh Chandimal all hitting half-centuries at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom on Tuesday.
The tourists finished the three-day tour game on 212/5 in their second innings after earlier bowling out the home team for 289 with the clash ending in a draw.
The South Africans managed to bat for just 2.5 overs on the third morning, adding four more runs in the process as George Linde (25) and Lwandiswa Zuma (0) were the two batsmen to be dismissed.
Both wickets were taken by Nuwan Pradeep, who ended with 3/41 in his 10.5 overs, while the pick of the bowlers remained fellow seamer Lahiru Kumara with 3/36.
The Sri Lankans, who made 373 all out in their first outing at the crease, again started strongly thanks to a 91-run opening stand between Tharanga (50 off 77 balls, 8 fours) and Perera (51 off 87 balls, 3 fours, 1 six).
Both men then retired, before Chandimal top-scored with an aggressive 60 (52 balls, 9 fours, 1 six), ensuring that seven different visiting batsmen hit half-centuries in the match – the other four were Dimuth Karunaratne (71), Kaushal Silva (80), Kusal Mendis (51) and Dhananjaya de Silva (62).
Captain Angelo Matthews followed his first innings duck with 37 in the second innings. He was one of two wickets to fall to the spin of Bjorn Fortuin (2/36).
The first Sunfoil Test of a three-match series against South Africa begins on Boxing Day, December 26, at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth.