Start tour on winning note

Published June 6, 2003

ST GEORGE’S (Grenada), June 5: Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu geared up for the one-day series against the West Indies by making 99 in his team’s 115-run win in a warm-up match here.

Electing to bat, the tourists posted 243-7 on Wednesday before restricting the Shell Academy eleven to 128-9 in their only practice game ahead of the three-match series.

The first two one-dayers against the West Indies will be held in Bridgetown on Saturday and Sunday, followed by the third at St Vincent on Wednesday.

The one-dayers will be followed by two Test matches.

Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan also excelled with three wickets off five runs in seven overs against the mediocre opposition.

Fast bowler Prabath Nissanka was the other main wicket-taker with 2-26.

Summarised scores:

SRI LANKA 243-7 in 50 overs (M.S. Atapattu 99, D.P.M. Jayawardene 35, T.M. Dilshan 27, M.N. Nawaz 26, K.C. Sangakkara 21; D. Bravo 2-44, J. Bennett 2-56);

SHELL ACADEMY XI 128-9 in 50 overs (M. Sinclair 22; M. Muralitharan 3-5, R.A.P. Nissanka 2-26).—AFP