Sri Lanka Under 19s to fight for fifth place after Dunith, Ranuda heroics

Sri Lanka Under 19s are scheduled to meet the winners of the match between Pakistan and Bangladesh to decide the fifth place of the tournament after they rode on a century by Dunith Wellalage to beat their South African counterparts in the ICC Under 19 World Cup Play-off semifinal at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday.

A century by skipper Dunith Wellalage and an unbeaten half century by Ranuda Somaratne helped Sri Lanka Under 19s post 232 runs, before Treveen Mathew, Shevon Daniel and Raveen de Silva took two wickets apiece to restrict South Africa to 167 runs.

Chasing a target of 233 runs to win, South Africa lost wickets at regular intervals as Mathew, Daniel and Wanuja Kumara did early damage.

In adversity, Gerhardus Maree scored aggressively to keep them interested before Wellalage dismissed him for 44 runs. Maree struck seven fours in his 43-ball knock.

Raveen de Silva and Shevon Daniel dented South Africa’s hopes of launching a late revival as they dismissed late order batsmen for low scores.

Earlier, deciding to bat first, Sri Lanka Under 19s lost three wickets for 25 runs before Wellalage launched a fight back anchoring the batting line up to post a modest total.

Wellalage had the support of his fellow St. Joseph’s College teammate Daniel to put on 52 runs stand for the fourth wicket after Chamindu Wickramsainghe and Sadisha Rajapaksa and Sakuna Liyanage were out without reaching double figures.

Wellalage scored 113 runs, the highest knock by a Sri Lankan batsman at this World Cup, inclusive of nine fours and four sixes and put on a crucial partnership of 130 runs for the fifth wicket with Somaratne before departing in the penultimate over. He faced 130 balls for his knock.

Somaratne was unbeaten on 57 runs after having scored three fours and two sixes.

Sri Lanka Under 19s will now meet the winners of the match between Pakistan and Bangladesh in the fifth-place play-off on Thursday.

Scores:

Sri Lanka U19s

232 for 9 in 50 overs (Shevon Daniel 29, Dunith Wellalage 113, Ranuda Somaratne 57n.o.; Matthew Boast 2/21, Kwena Maphaka 3/60)

South Africa U19s

167 all out in 37.3 overs (Ronan Hermann 34, Gerhardus Maree 44, Andile Simelane 20, Michael Copeland 20; Treveen Mathew 2/41, Shevon Daniel 2/28, Raveen de Silva 2/14)