Adil Rashid starred in an unusual all-spin attack who secured victory for the England Performance Programme (EPP) squad against Colombo Colts in Sri Lanka.
The Yorkshire leg-spinner took 4-48 with Samit Patel, Stephen Parry, Adam Riley and Zafar Ansari sharing the rest of the wickets as Colts Cricket Club fell 43 short of the EPP’s 50-over total of 223 in Colombo.
The EPP’s spinners and batsmen have been training in Colombo for the last two weeks, with the fast bowlers selected for the programme in South Africa, but had seen the first of their two scheduled white-ball fixtures in Colombo washed out.
Gary Ballance, captaining the EPP team against opposition who were finalising preparations for the local elite one-day competition, won the toss and chose to bat, and after the early loss of Jason Roy and James Vince in tricky conditions, joined his Yorkshire team-mate Alex Lees to lay a platform.
Lees top-scored with 58, Ballance fell for 35 and Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Adam Lyth and Tom Westley all made handy contributions, but England’s total fell well short of formidable.
Parry relished the rare opportunity to take the new ball with Westley and bowled well without much luck against a Colts team including Sri Lanka A batsmen Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Sadeera Samarawickrama.
Instead it was Rashid, fresh off the back of a fine all-round season in Yorkshire’s Championship-winning campaign, who did the bulk of the damage, as the Colts were all out with 10 of their overs remaining.
The EPP will stay in Sri Lanka for another week concentrating on red-ball practice before joining the quicks in South Africa – who include James Anderson and Stuart Broad as they rebuild fitness following injuries – for another training camp in Potchefstroom.
The players return home for Christmas, before heading back to South Africa for a Lions tour.