Burgess 98 makes SL bowlers toil

Sri Lanka's bowlers were given another testing workout ahead of the Test series, as Michael Burgess, on first-class debut for Leicestershire, fell two short of what would have been an elegant maiden century. Burgess's efforts helped Leicestershire to 304 for 5 in their reply and left the Sri Lankans to dwell most fondly on the morning session, when Dasun Shanaka completed his fourth first-class century.

Burgess, whose six previous appearances had come for Loughborough MCCU, did not profit from a Sri Lankan attack going through the motions. He faced two overs from a sharp Dushmantha Chameera when he first came to the crease and then, with a start to his name, battled Suranga Lakmal and Rangana Herath in tandem. A tall presence at the crease, Burgess was quick on anything short, while also able to turn decent length balls into half-volleys with little more than a forward stride.

His fifty took 88 balls and, from that point on, he decided to make hay: Chameera and the underwhelming offerings of Dimuth Karunaratne were hit for consecutive fours as he skipped through the sixties. Upon making it to 98, however, the field was brought in and an attempt to fashion two against Milinda Siriwardana, who was turning the ball away from the right-hander, brought a leading edge and an easy return catch. Burgess walked off disappointed but will reflect that he has stated a strong case for further opportunities in 1st XI whites.

The start of the second day was delayed after Keith Piper, the former Warwickshire player who is now Leicestershire's wicketkeeping coach, went over on his ankle during the warm-up football match. He was taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle.

When play finally got underway, Shanaka, the bringer of fireworks on day one, hit Atif Sheikh for a brace of fours, through point and cover, to move to 99, before a dab to third man took him to three figures. Sri Lanka chose to bat on, with Shanaka smashing Tom Wells for six over midwicket and Herath doing his finest David Gower impression, hitting fours through backward point, cover and extra cover with ease to bring up a half-century off 93 balls.

Three balls later, Herath was removed after Lewis Hill made a difficult high chance at cover look simple, before Shanaka gave Hill a second catch - this time at deep backward point - to end the Sri Lanka innings on 367.

There was much to be gleaned from Shanaka's knock. He showed composure in recovering from a blow to the back of the head - saved from serious harm by the stem-guard attachments that protect the base of the skull and the top of the neck. He also showed he is able to bat with the tail. For the last few years, lower-order partnerships have dug Sri Lanka out of the serious holes that the middle order have put them in and the ease with which Shanaka farmed the strike in the early part of his 174-run partnership with Herath will not have gone unnoticed. If he is to come into the Test side - most likely at No. 7 - that ability to coordinate a late resurgence is crucial.

Shanaka is an allrounder and his medium pace showed flashes of usefulness. He took a while to get going: his first six balls were over-pitched and unthreatening, suggesting a degree of ring rust. But once he had pulled his length back and began running through the crease, he was able to get a bit more movement off the pitch (into the right-handed batsmen) and carry through to the keeper, Niroshan Dickwella.

Dickwella and Dinesh Chandimal shared wicketkeeping duties in Sri Lanka's opening tour match but a throat infection kept the latter off the field here. As a result, Dickwella kept throughout the day with little fuss. It is understood that Sri Lanka would like to find a place for him in the Test XI to allow Chandimal, the No. 4, to concentrate solely on his batting.

As for the pace attack, Chameera built up a good head of steam. His lack of control early on allowed Leicestershire openers Hill and Angus Robson to use the pace on the ball to time a few fours through cover and midwicket to get their innings started. But once Chameera settled into a groove, he was able to get extra bounce from a pitch that had started to keep low. Any edges he did find shot through the slips and went for four after landing short of the catchers, who seemed unwilling to position themselves further forward.

Leicestershire reached lunch on 61 for no loss but Robson, captaining the side, and Hill were dismissed by Herath; both misread the length of deliveries to fall lbw and bowled respectively. The left-arm spinner opened up the afternoon session from the Pavilion End and, with little turn on offer, toyed with various flighted and flatter deliveries. It was only Aadil Ali who challenged Herath, skipping down the wicket and slamming him over his head for a glorious six. Otherwise, he was treated with the respect you would expect for a bowler on the cusp of 300 Test wickets.