Dunith Wellalage was again the star for Sri Lanka as he took a five-for and scored 52 to guide his side to a four-wicket victory over Australia in the ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup.
The Lions came out on top in the tussle between the two unbeaten teams in Group D, with no Australian able to match Wellalage in Basseterre.
Hosts West Indies did the business against Scotland as the bowlers dismissed Scotland for less than 100, with bowling coach and Windies legend Curtly Ambrose proudly watching on.
Teddy Bishop then showed his skill with the bat to guide West Indies to a comfortable victory in Group D to sit second in the table with one game to go.
Pakistan showed their batting strength as they played their opening game in Group C in Guyana, putting on 315 thanks to a Haseebullah Khan century.
Zimbabwe fell 116 runs short in the chase despite an 83–run eighth-wicket partnership between Brian Bennett and Tendekai Mataranyika.
Windies show all-round dominance
West Indies were ruthless after winning the toss and putting Scotland into bat as Shiva Sankar took the first three wickets including two in two balls on his way to match-best three for 17.
Muhaymen Majeed made an entertaining knock at No.6, but his score of 11 was the second-highest of Scotland’s innings as they were unable to get close to the 178 they put on in a losing cause in their opener against Sri Lanka.
Spin twins Onaje Amory and Anderson Mahase took a combined four for 42 as Scotland were restricted to 95 all out.
West Indies were steady in their march to the low total, their first wicket falling in the seventh over as Matthew Nandu was dismissed for eight off the bowling of Jack Jarvis, who was playing with a dislocated finger.
Charlie Peet took the Windies’ second wicket, deceiving Shaqkere Parris with a pitched-up delivery that went straight through to the opener’s stumps to leave the hosts at 2-48.
Wicket-keeper batter Rivaldo Clarke looked to combine with Teddy Bishop to guide West Indies home before falling to a similar delivery to the Parris dismissal but this time Davidson claimed the wicket as Clarke was caught behind.
Bishop was able to stay at the crease to seal the win for the Windies, their first of the tournament, his six brought up the seven-wicket victory in just 19.4 overs.
Sri Lanka cruise to win over Australia
Australia struggled to build partnerships having been put in to bat by Sri Lanka, their highest stand coming between Campbell Kellaway and Nivethan Radhakrishnan as they put on 46 for the fourth wicket.
The last three wickets fell for eight runs as Wellalage produced his second double-wicket over of the match, as he also claimed his second five-fer of the World Cup.
This time the slow left-armer went for one more run than against Scotland to return figures of five for 28, which sees him five clear in the early race to top the wicket standings.
In reply, Sri Lanka kept above the required run rate but were consistently pegged back by the Australian quicks.
Tom Whitney and William Salzmann took Sri Lanka’s second and third wickets in the space of three balls to reduce them to 41 for three in their chase of 176.
Wellalage again helped to steady the ship, this time with bat in hand, putting on a 70-run partnership with Anjala Bandara, before Bandara was dismissed sending an outside edge into the hands of wicketkeeper Tobias Snell.
Sri Lanka’s captain continued on to his half-century, coming off 69 balls and featuring four fours and one six.
With the Lions requiring just five runs, it seemed that Wellalage would steer the team home but he was dismissed caught and bowled by Whitney and it was left to Raveen De Silva to hit the winning runs as Sri Lanka emerged the only unbeaten team in Group D.
Haseebullah stars as Pakistan win
Pakistan’s opener Haseebullah put on the highest score of the tournament so far with 135 from 155 balls as he and Irfan Khan combined for a 192-run third-wicket partnership.
Irfan was forced to go for 81 from 77 balls, including eight fours, after being caught by David Bennett off the bowling of Mcgini Dube.
Zimbabwe continued the fightback, led by right-arm seamer Alex Falao, who took the wicket of Haseebullah on his way to five for 58 as Pakistan ended with 315 for nine.
The Chevrons had already produced a score higher than this against Papua New Guinea in their opening game of Group C but faltered in this chase.
Matthew Welch and Steven Saul combined at the top of the order to put on 34 for the first wicket.
The next six wickets fell for 77 runs before a timely partnership of 83 runs between Bennett and Mataranyika gave Zimbabwe a glimmer of hope.
But with Bennett’s dismissal they were left needing 121 runs with only 58 balls remaining, Mataranyika followed his partner back to the hutch two balls later before the final wicket of Mcgini Dube fell to hand Pakistan a convincing 115-run victory.
Tuesday, January 18 matches:
England v Canada, Warner Park Cricket Stadium, St Kitts and Nevis
South Africa v Uganda, Queens Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago
Afghanistan v PNG, Diego Martin Sporting Complex, Trinidad and Tobago
Content courtesy: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020 via Online Media Zone
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