Sri Lanka U19s commence Asia Cup campaign with a massive win

Sri Lanka Under 19s commenced their Under 19 Asia Cup campaign with a crushing 274 runs victory over Kuwait U19s in the Group ‘B’ match played at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Chasing an unlikely target of 324 runs to win, Kuwait were dismissed for a paltry 49 runs as skipper Dunith Wellalage, who came to bowl only in the 16th over took four wickets in nine balls.

Captain Meet Bhavsar and Jude Saldanha who opened batting were the only batsmen to reach double figures and the team was bowled out in the 18th over.

Sadisha Rajapaksha, who came in as the first change bowler triggered the collapse taking the first three wickets. While Matheesha Pathirana grabbed two wickets, Wellalage mopped up the tail and is on a hat trick after having grabbed the last two wickets in consecutive balls.

Earlier deciding to bat first, the entire top order batting lineup clicked for Sri Lanka. Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Shevon Daniel put on a 91-runs stand for the first wicket. Wickramasinghe scored five fours and a six in his knock of 54 which came in 57 balls. Daniel also scored 54 runs including four fours and a six.

Sadisha Rajapaksa helped keep up the early momentum scoring 35 runs in 37 balls before Pawan Pathiraja and Ranuda Somarathne joined to build a robust 114 runs stand (in 93 balls) for the fourth wicket. Pathiraja was the top scorer with a knock of 86 runs which came in 72 balls (11x4s). Somarathne who remained unbeaten on 60 cracked four fours and a six.

In the other matches played yesterday, India Under 19s scored a 154 runs victory over UAE, while Pakistan lost six wickets to chase a target of 53 runs against Afghanistan.

Sri Lanka Under 19s will next meet Nepal on Sunday. Their other Group ‘B’ opponents are Bangladesh whom they encounter on Tuesday.

The top two teams in Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ will meet in the semi-finals on December 30. The winners will clash for the Under 19 Asia Cup on January 1.

Scores:

Sri Lanka U19 323 for 5 in 50 overs (Chamindu Wickramasinghe 54, Shevon Daniel 54, Sadisha Rajapaksa 35, Pawan Pathiraja 86, Ranuda Somarathne 60n.o., Dunith Wellalage 19; Zeeshan Azeem 2/49, Habier Ali 2/50)

Kuwait U19 49 all out in 17.3 overs  (Meet Bhavsar 25; Sadisha Rajapaksa 3/04, Matheesha Pathirana 2/07, Dunith Wellalage 4/02 runs)