Test captain Joe Root’s fluent century for England was overshadowed by a sickening blow to the head of Sri Lanka Board XI fielder Pathum Nissanka on the second day of the two-day warm-up cricket match that ended in a high scoring draw at NCC grounds yesterday.
Nissanka was struck a blow on the forehead of his helmet while fielding at short leg by a fierce pull shot from Jos Buttler. While the fielder fell to the ground clutching his head the ball ballooned into the air and was caught by Angelo Mathews at leg slip to terminate Buttler’s innings at 44.
Nissanka remained motionless for about 20 minutes before he was taken on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance and an MRI scan later confirmed that he was ‘out of danger’ but he will be kept in hospital for a 24-hour observation.
England also had an injury worry when Ben Stokes took a blow above the elbow after missing an attempted pull shot off Lahiru Gamage. He was able to resume his innings later and his injury is not expected to be serious to keep him out of the first Test at Galle starting Tuesday week.
Amidst all this drama Root gained some valuable practice ahead of the Test series reaching an effortless century off 117 balls - playing both spin and pace alike to hit 13 fours before retiring to allow other players the opportunity to bat.
Opener Rory Burns (47 of 79 balls), Moeen Ali (60 off 75 balls) and Buttler (44 from 55 balls) all made use of the match to get some runs under their belt.
Off-spinner Nishan Peiris was the most impressive of the Board XI bowlers finishing with three wickets that included the wickets of Stokes, Buttler and Ali.
England commence another two-day warm-up game against a Sri Lanka Board XI captained by Lahiru Thirimanne on Thursday at the CCC grounds.
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