Sri Lanka Under 19s seal series with crushing 126 runs win

Sri Lanka Under 19s led by Dunith Wellalage romped to a crushing 126 runs victory over their England counterparts at the SSC on Wednesday to win the five match Youth ODI series 3-1 with a game to spare.

The hosts rode on good all-round performances by Raveen de Silva and Shevon Daniel and Pawan Pathiraja’s half century to record their second consecutive series victory.

The team coached by Avishka Gunawardena made a clean sweep when Sri Lanka Cricket hosted Bangladesh Under 19s earlier. In this series England Under 19s won the first match but the hosts fought back to win three consecutive matches to win the series.

Chasing a target of 244 runs to win the visitors looked set to square the series when opener George Thomas and Harry Crawshaw were batting together to repair early damage. They were 83 for two wickets in the 21st over when a direct hit by Chamindu Wickramasinghe to run out George Thomas triggered a collapse. One over later Shevon Daniel bowled James Rew with a peach of a delivery and from then on, no other batsmen could pose a serious threat to the hosts. Raveen de Silva mopped up the tail with a three wicket haul.

Paceman Matheesha Pathirana’s struggle with wide balls continued but when he was accurate the visitors found it difficult to handle. He took two wickets with his slingers as the visitors were bowled out for 117 runs with many overs remaining in their innings.

Batting first, Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Shevon Daniel provided a brisk start before Nathan Barnwell struck in consecutive overs to slow things down. Wickramasinghe scored three fours and a six in his 19 runs (13 balls).  Daniel cracked 39 runs in 35 balls (4x4s, 1x6s). Sri Lanka lost two more wickets  (to Benjamin Cliff) but Pawan Pathiraja and Raveen de Silva put on a valuable 111 runs stand for the fifth wicket for the hosts to reach a commanding position. De Silva scored 59 runs inclusive of four fours and a six. Pathiraja’s 60 runs included just two fours.

While Dunith Wellalage made 15, Yasiru Rodrigo, who was promoted up in the order scored three fours in his unbeaten 15.

The two teams will now meet in the fifth Youth ODI at the same venue on Friday.

Scores: 

Sri Lanka U19s 243 for 7 in 50 overs (Chamindu Wickramasinghe 19, Shevon Daniel 39, Pawan Pathiraja 60, Raveen de Silva 59, Dunith Wellalage 15, Yasiru Rodrigo 15n.o.; Nathan Barnwell 2/39, Benjamin Cliff 3/43)

England U19s 117 all out in 33.3 overs (George Thomas 40, Harry Crawshaw 31; Raveen de Silva 3/06, Matheesha Pathirana 2/08)