Lanka under 19 in seven-wicket win over England

Chris DHAMBARAGE

The Sri Lanka under 19 team produced the ingredients of success for the first time as they cruised to a convincing seven wicket victory over England under 19 team in their Tri Series limited overs cricket tournament match worked off at the Colts CC ground in Havelock Park yesterday.

After restricting the opposition to 208 for 7 the Lankans produced a fine batting display to reach their target in style with more than ten overs to spare.

This was certainly an improved performance from the home side following their humiliating defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the opening fixture played at the same venue on Wednesday.

The openers Dilshan Munaweera and Dinesh Chandimal led the run chase with an explosive stand of 68 runs from just 8.1 overs.

The former was in cracking form as he took the game away from England with a swashbuckling 45 from 32 deliveries that included three sixes and half a dozen of boundaries.

Dinesh Chandimal of course played a more sedate game and was prepared to wait for the loose deliveries and was third out with Sri Lanka well in sight of their victory target. The wicket keeper batsman hit a solid 65 off 85 deliveries with the help of one six and two boundaries.

Chandimal also put on a century partnership for the second wicket together with Kusal Janitha Perera who also went on to complete a superb half century. The stylish left hander hit a top score of 66 from 82 deliveries while stroking eight boundaries. Roshane Silva then added the finishing touches with a run a ball 22 not out to give Sri Lanka their first win of the competition.

Earlier England were restricted to 208 for 7 from their 50 overs after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.

However they found run making more difficult this time and none of their top order batsmen were able to build up a big innings.

The Sri Lankan bowlers maintained a better line length to frustrate the opposition throughout the innings except for Navin Kavikara who conceded more than fifty runs during his ten overs spell.

Middle order batsmen Taylor and Wood both made useful contributions but they used more deliveries that prevented them from increasing the scoring rate.

The tournament will resume on Sunday with Sri Lanka taking on Pakistan in another match at the SSC ground in Maitland Place.

ENGLAND UNDER-19

B.A. Godleman st Chandimal b Pathirana 		24
A.G. Wakely lbw b Fernando 			 8
T. Westley c Priyanjan b Kavikara 		27
D.J. Redfern c T Perera b Jayaratne 	 	 6
J.W.A. Taylor lbw b Pathirana 		 	43
G.L. Wood lbw b Munaweera 			43
B.C. Brown b T Perera 				38
L.A. Dawson not out 			  	 4
J.E. Goodman not out 				 4

Extras (lb 4, w 7) 				11
TOTAL (7 wickets; 50 overs) 		       208

DID NOT BAT: J.A.R. Harris, J.E. Lee 
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-18, 2-47, 3-54, 4-93, 5-149, 6-194, 7-204 
BOWLING: T. Perera 7-1-21-1 (2w), D. Fernando 5-0-30-1 (4w),
	 I. Jayaratne 9-0-37-1 (1w), S. Pathirana 10-1-27-2,
	 N. Kavikara 10-0-52-1, D. Munaweera 9-1-37-1.
    
SRI LANKA UNDER-19
 
D. Munaweera b Goodman 				45
D. Chandimal c Brown b Harris 			65
K. Perera b Dawson 				66
R. Silva not out 				22
A. Priyanjan not out 				 7

Extras (w 5, nb 2) 				 7
TOTAL (3 wickets in 38.4 overs) 	       212

DID NOT BAT: N. Kavikara, T. Perera, D. Fernando, S. Pathirana, I. Jayaratne, A. Perera
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-68, 2-174, 3-199 
BOWLING: J.A.R. Harris 6-0-45-1, J.E. Lee 4-0-42-0, 
	 L.A. Dawson 10-0-46-1, J.E. Goodman 4.4-1-16-1, T. Westley 10-0-46-0,
	 D.J. Redfern 2-0-8-0, G.L. Wood 2-0-9-0.