Chamindu, Sadisha hammer centuries as SL U19s romp to victory   

Sri Lanka Under 19s romped to their second consecutive victory in the Asian Cricket Council Under-19 Asia Cup tournament as Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Sadisha Rajapaksa scored centuries to set the stage to beat Nepal Under 19s by 60 runs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing a target of 323 runs to victory Nepal top order provided hope with openers putting up a 59 runs stand but three quick wickets by Raveen de Silva proved vital as Nepal lost the momentum to be placed 92 for four wickets in the 23rd over.

Wicketkeeper batsman Arjun Saud anchored the batting line up with a half century to keep hopes alive for Nepal but bowlers did well to contain the run flow. His run out dismissal at the start of the last ten overs doused late sparks as Nepal were bowled out for 262 runs with 13 balls remaining in their innings. Paceman Matheesha Pathirana accounted for three late order wickets.

Deciding to bat first, the second wicket pair of Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Sadisha Rajapaksa put on a massive stand of 223 runs as both went on to score centuries. That stand provided the key for Sri Lanka Under 19s victory. It was the second Youth ODI century for Wickramasinghe as the St. Anthony’s, Katugastota all rounder scored 111 runs inclusive of eight fours and two sixes. His first Youth ODI century was scored in the home series against Bangladesh.

When he got out, the team had posted 262 runs leaving the middle order batsmen with seven overs to accelerate the run rate with Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa went on to compile a valuable 131 runs in just 119 balls. The Royal College, Colombo batsman’s knock included 11 fours and two sixes. Wellalage provided the finishing touches to the innings scoring an unbeaten 34 in 24 balls. He scored three fours and a six.

The team posted over 300 runs for the second time with as many as five batsmen not facing a single ball. In their first match Sri Lanka Youth team beat Kuwait by 274 runs.

Sri Lanka Under 19s will now meet their Bangladesh counterparts in the last group match on Tuesday.

Scores:

Sri Lanka U19s 322

for 4 in 50 overs (Chamindu Wickramasinghe 111, Shevon Daniel 17, Sadisha Rajapaksa 131,  Dunith Wellalage 34n.o.; Mohammad Aadil Alam 2/46) 

Nepal U19s 262

all out in 47.5 overs (Santosh Karki  34, Dev Khanal  28, Arjun Saud 64, Basir Ahamad 43, Bibek Yadav 46; Matheesha Pathirana 3/49, Raveen de Silva 3/35)