Sri Lankans hammered by England A

Tour match, Worcester, day three of four: England A 259 & 41-0 bt Sri Lanka 179 & 118 by 10 wickets

Scorecard

Youngster Broad produced another impressive display

Sri Lanka's preparations for the first Test at Lord's suffered a big blow when they went down to an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat by England A.

The tourists resumed day three on 68-5 and were skittled for 118, Jon Lewis ending with match figures of 9-110.

Tillakaratne Dilshan held up England A with a dogged 40 but when he fell to Stuart Broad (3-17) the end was swift.

Alastair Cook and Rob Key needed only eight overs to knock off the 39 needed shortly after lunch in Worcester.

Dilshan began confidently by hitting Rikki Clarke for successive boundaries in the second over of the day.

But the slide started when Chamara Kapugedera edged Liam Plunkett behind, while Farveez Maharoof chipped Lewis straight to Key at mid-on.

Broad produced a lifting delivery to surprise Dilshan into edging to Cook at second slip and there was little resistance from the tail-enders.

I'm not sure that's a true reflection of how good their batting is Jon Lewis

Defeat with a day to spare does not bode well for Sri Lanka's chances at Lord's next week but coach Tom Moody says their struggles were partly explained by the higher seam on the new Dukes ball.

"It's given us a clear indication of what the ball is potentially going to do this summer.

"This is the first time we've used the 2006 ball in a match - we've had a good look at it and we're going to have to work very hard between now and Thursday as bowlers and batsmen to familiarise ourselves with the differences.

"The seam's a little bit more elevated and it's bound to help if there is a bit of seam movement."

Lewis expects the tourists to be a different proposition when they take on the senior England side on Thursday.

"There was seam movement, variable bounce and the ball swung quite a lot, which it always tends to do at Worcester," he told BBC Sport. "I don't think this pitch will be anything like the one at Lord's.

"I'm not sure that's a true reflection of how good their batting is. They have struggled for runs but I think you'll find on Thursday that they will be a lot more composed.

"They're all quite small guys and small guys don't tend to move their feet a lot when the ball swings around.

"When the ball does swing and seam if you're not moving towards it you can get into trouble.

"They seemed to get stuck behind the crease a lot in this game so I'm sure they'll be working on getting out to the ball more."