Chamindu sizzles as Sri Lanka Under 19s whitewash Bangladesh

St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota all-rounder Chamindu Wickramasinghe scored the only century of the series and skipper Dunith Wellalage and Vinuja Ranpul took two wickets each during dying stages to pull off a nerve tingling four runs victory as Sri Lanka Under 19s completed a 5-0 whitewash against Bangladesh in the Youth ODI series concluded at Dambulla on Monday.

Chasing 241 runs to win the visitors looked set to record their only victory of the series when their top order batting line up clicked together. They surpassed the 200 run mark with six wickets in hand as Mahfijul Islam and Aich Mollah scored half centuries. But things started to change when skipper Wellalage, who had earlier bowled four overs for seven runs, returned to bowl. Bangladesh however were still in control with Mollah anchoring the tail. With five wickets in hand Bangladesh needed just 14 runs from the last two overs. Ranpul then bowled Mollah and also accounted for Tahjibul Islam in the penultimate over.

Sri Lanka needed to defend eight runs in the final over and Wellalage took on his shoulders to bowl and struck twice to seal four runs victory.

Electing to bat first Sri Lanka Under 19s gave Wickramasinghe the opportunity to open batting with Sadeesh Jayawardena who was dismissed in the third over leaving a huge responsibility on the shoulders of Wickramasinghe and the Josephian all-rounder Shevon Daniel. They joined to guide the team to a commanding position posting 154 runs stand for the second wicket. However after Daniel’s departure wickets started to fall at regular intervals and there were no late order heroics. Wickramasinghe scored 102 runs, the only century of the series, in 123 balls. He scored his century in 115 balls. His knock included ten fours and three sixes.

Daniel’s knock of 59 (his second half century of the series) included three fours and two sixes. He was later adjudged the Player of the Series. He was also the Man of the Match in the third match. While Wickramasinghe was the Man of the Match in the final match, Treveen Mathew (first match), Maujul Islam (second match) and Raveen de Silva (fourth match) were the others who won Man of the Match awards in other matches.

Scores:

Sri Lanka U19s

240 for 9 in 50 overs (Chamindu Wickramsinghe 102, Shevon Daniel 59, Dunith Wellalage 20; Mushfik Hasan 3/37, Ripon Mondol 2/43, Ahosan Habib 2/56)

Bangladesh U19

236 all out in 50 overs (Mahfijul Islam 62, Iftikher Hossain 32, Prantik Nawrose Nabil 33, Aich Mollah 55, Ariful Islam 21; Vinuja Ranpul 2/21, Dunith Wellalage 2/38)