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LONDON, May 13: Sri Lanka’s hopes of recording a morale-boosting victory over Middlesex ahead of this week’s first Test with England were washed out by persistent rain here Monday.
The tourists had been handily placed at 281 for four in their second innings overnight going into the final day at Shenley.
But any hopes skipper Sanath Jayasuriya had of making an early declaration to set up the possibility of a victory ended after play was halted by rain.
No play was possible Monday, leaving Mahela Jayawardena unbeaten on 125 with the left-handed Hashan Tillekeratne 71 not out.
The match was called off by umpires Graham Burgess and Peter Hartley shortly before lunch.
Meanwhile, recuperating off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will join his Sri Lanka team mates in England later this week, the Sri Lanka cricket board said in Colombo Monday.
SRI LANKA (1st Innings) 186 (S.T. Jayasuriya 52; B.L. Hutton 4-37).
MIDDLESEX (1st Innings, overnight 178-6):
A.J. Strauss lbw b Buddika 27
S.G. Koenig lbw b Perera 0
R.M.S. Weston b Buddika 0
O.A. Shah c Jayasuriya b Upashantha 65
E.C. Joyce lbw b Buddika 93
B.L. Hutton lbw b Upashantha 0
P.N. Weekes lbw b Upashantha 3
D. Alleyne b Buddika 31
A.W. Laraman not out 39
T.A. Hunt c Upashantha b Perera 3
T.F. Bloomfield lbw b Chandana 0
EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-11) 13
TOTAL (all out, 74 overs) 274
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-14, 3-45, 4-159, 5-159, 6-164, 7-225, 8-244, 9-272.
BOWLING: Perera 16-3-39-2; Buddika 18-4-72-4; Upashantha 17-2-85-3; Chandana 18-5-53-1; Jayawardena 4-1-14-0; Jayasuriya 1-0-9-0.
SRI LANKA (2nd Innings):
M.S. Ataputtu c Hutton b Bloomfield 16
S.T. Jayasuriya b Bloomfield 31
K. Sangakkara lbw b Laraman 13
D.P.M. Jayawardena not out 125
P.A. de Silva c Shah b Bloomfield 7
H.P. Tillekeratne not out 71
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7, W-4, NB-3) 18
TOTAL (for four wkts, 66 overs) 281
FALL OF WKTS: 1-44, 2-65, 3-67, 4-102.
BOWLING (to-date): Bloomfield 17-4-45-3; Hunt 10-1-58-0; Laraman 10-2-55-1; Hutton 16-4-43-0; Weekes 11-1-54-0; Shah 2-0-15-0.
UMPIRES: G.I. Burgess and P.J. Hartley.—AFP/Reuters
