Gubbins sends reminder as storm ends Lions hopes

Sri Lanka President's XI 153 (Chandraguptha 48, Helm 3-18) and 324 (Chandraguptha 91, Fransisco 72, Rayner 3-55) drew with England Lions 279 (Westley 95, Livingstone 84) and 171 for 6 (Gubbins 52*, Pushpakumara 3-35)
Scorecard

Nick Gubbins hit an unbeaten half-century to steer England Lions to the brink of victory in their warm-up game in Sri Lanka A before they were foiled by a spectacular storm.

Not that the Sri Lanka President's XI could be entirely written off. Gubbins was on 52 from 80 balls, and the Lions were on 171 for 6, still needing another 28 to win, when an alarming flash of lightning sent the players scurrying from the field.

Thunder had been rumbling around Moratuwa, in the southern suburbs of Colombo, for a while, and within minutes it was raining heavily. But the result was never the priority for the Lions in this game, as they aimed to make the most of their only match practice before the first of the two four-day games against Sri Lanka A starts in Kandy on Friday. In that respect, Gubbins and coach Andy Flower declared it a major success.

The game was played with pink Kookaburra balls, as the first four-dayer in Kandy will be, before the teams revert to red balls for the second match in Dambulla.

"It was good for me to spend some time out there, and if you look through the game I think all of our batsmen and bowlers have got something out of it," said Gubbins, who had a sterling season for Middlesex in 2016 but whose development has been overshadowed by the Test honours bestowed in recent months on fellow openers Keaton Jennings, who is skippering the Lions, and Haseeb Hameed.

Two of Gubbins' Middlesex team-mates, Ollie Rayner and Tom Helm, impressed with the ball as the Lions worked steadily through the six wickets that remained in the Board President's XI second innings at the start of the final day.

Rayner took the only two wickets of the morning session in a single over, both courtesy of Joe Clarke. Clarke was again wicketkeeping with the Lions taking no chances with Ben Foakes's back problem, although the Surrey man is still hoping to take the gloves for the first unofficial Test.

Clarke took a sharp catch then claimed a tidy stumping, and ended the match with seven victims after being doubtful himself before the match because of a wrist problem.

Sam Curran then made an important double breakthrough after lunch, and Helm claimed the wicket a probing spell deserved when Hameed took a good catch running back from midwicket.

Hameed then dominated an opening stand of 51 inside 12 overs with Keaton Jennings, making 39 from 45 balls including seven boundaries until he fell lbw to the left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara.

Jennings had only contributed seven to that partnership, but the Lions captain accelerated after tea, crunching a six over midwicket and scoring three of his seven fours with the reverse sweep that famously brought him a century on Test debut in Mumbai before Christmas. He retired a single short of 50 to give the other batsmen some time in the middle in a pressure situation - and it was Gubbins who made the most of that opportunity, hitting two sixes and earning praise from Flower for his skill against the spinners.

"It's my first time in the subcontinent - the camp in Dubai before Christmas was the closest I'd been previously," Gubbins reflected, while in his post-innings ice bath. "So it's a new experience, and I definitely learned lessons from the first innings, when I got out quite cheaply.

"That's been the aim of the winter: experiencing some new conditions and making myself a better player. I was pleased with the way I batted in the second innings of our game against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, and to come here and put into practice is really pleasing for me."

The Lions leave Colombo for Kandy on Wednesday morning, to face a Sri Lanka A team led by Dhananjaya de Silva, who made an impressive debut in Test cricket against Australia late last year.