Sri Lanka 'A' rode on three useful half-centuries to establish a 61-run first innings lead over South Zone on the second day of their four-day Group 'A' Duleep Trophy match, in Kolkata on Sunday.
Replying to South Zone's first innings total of 266, the foreigners' first innings ended at 327 in the post-tea session at the Eden Gardens.
Chamara Silva (70), skipper T Samaraweera (69) and Kaushal Silva (55) were the principal contributors to the Lankan innings that lasted 402 minutes.
At stumps, South Zone were 24 for no loss, with Dinesh Kaarthick (16 batting) and Robin Uthappa (7 batting) at the crease.
Resuming at the overnight score of 36 for 1, Sri Lanka lost M Warnapura (0) in the day's first over without adding any run to the total, while Mahela Udawatte (34) departed a little later.
Pacer P Kaushik Reddy claimed both wickets, as Sri Lanka 'A' were in a spot of bother at 57/3.
Samaraweera and Jehan Mubarak (32) then added 49 runs for the fourth wicket, before the latter was trapped leg before by India paceman S Sreesanth.
Mubarak's dismissal brought together the skipper and Chamara Silva and the two stitched together a 103-run stand for the fifth wicket to put the Sri Lankan innings back on track.
Samaraweera played anchor as Chamara Silva went all guns blazing, taking his side to 158/4 at lunch, and continuing the assault to notch up his half-century off 67 balls.
Sri Lanka 'A' reached 200 in exactly four hours, before Silva's aggressive knock came to an end when he was caught behind the wicket off Pragyan Ojha.
Silva struck 10 fours and two sixes during his 80-ball knock spread over 106 minutes.
Sreesanth then claimed Upul Chandana (6) before Samaraweera, who anchored the innings, completed his 50 in 171 minutes.
The Lanka 'A' captain (159b, 254 mins, 9x4) returned to the pavilion shortly before tea, giving V Yomahesh his second wicket.
Sri Lanka 'A' were then 254-7, and Kaushal Silva and Akalanka Ganegama (18) were involved in a 58-run eighth wicket stand to give the vital first innings lead to their side.
For South Zone, Kaushik Reddy (4-57) and Yomahesh (3-74) were the main wicket takers.
Scorecard
South Zone (1st innings): 266 all out
Sri Lanka A (1st innings): (36/1 overnight):
M Vandort b V Yo Mahesh 14
M Udawatte c Laxman b Reddy 34
M Warnapura lbw b Reddy 0
T Samaraweera c Laxman b Mahesh 69
J Mubarak lbw b Sreesanth 32
C Silva c Kaarthick b Ojha 70
U Chandana c Kaarthick b Sreesanth 6
K Silva c Kaarthick b Reddy 55
A Ganegama c Kaarthick b Reddy 16
T Lakshita lbw b Mahesh 8
S Prasad not out 6
Extras: (b-6, lb-7, nb-4) 17
Total: (all out, 88.3 overs) 327
Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-36, 3-57, 4-106, 5-209, 6-218, 7-254, 8-312, 9-313.
Bowling: Sreesanth 21-3-75-2, Reddy 22-6-57-4, Mahesh 16.3-1-74-3, Ojha 26-5-89-1, V Rao 2-0-14-0, Laxman 1-0-5-0.
South Zone (2nd innings):
D Kaarthick batting 16
R Uthappa batting 7
Extras: (w-1) 1
Total: (for no loss, 5 overs) 24
Bowling: Ganegama 3-0-16-0, Prasad 2-0-8-0.
