Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan secure wins at U19 CWC

Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan won their respective encounters over Namibia, Scotland, and Nepal in the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup in South Africa on Wednesday.

Namibia were rattled by Sri Lanka in their modest chase of 134.

The Namibian Eagles kept Sri Lanka in check with their tight lines and ensured that the run rate crept at less than two in the first seven overs.

Under pressure, Pulindu Perera tried to steal a quick single and was run out by brilliant teamwork from Peter-Daniel Blignaut, who ran in from point to throw the ball at the non-striker's end, and Junior Kariata, who managed to break the stumps despite being awkwardly placed.

The Island nation were then rocked by Zacheo van Vuuren, who claimed two wickets in his first two overs. Sineth Jayawardena's minimal foot movement meant that he was unable to cover one that came in, while Ravishan de Silva was brilliantly held by JW Visagie after he nicked one to the keeper's right.

Rusanda Gamage tried to add initiative with a couple of boundaries, but eventually fell for 17 while trying to lift Van Vuuren over third man. The pacer had his fourth when he got the important wicket of Dinura Kalupahana. Sri Lanka's talented allrounder chipped one into the covers at the end of the 20th over.

Namibia's bowling attack stuck to attacking lines and kept picking up wickets after the 20-over mark. Hansie de Villiers struck thrice with his off-spin and helped the African side run through the tail. Only Supun Waduge stood out with his 56* in the Sri Lankan total of 133.

Sri Lanka struck early in response. Garuka Sanketh bowled Gerhard Janse van Rensburg (0) with a peach when Namibia were yet to open their account. Hansie de Villiers and JW Visagie batted watchfully against the skilful Sri Lankan bowlers.

A freak runout in the eighth over started a slide that swayed the game in Sri Lanka's favour. It all began with JW Visagie trying to get past the covers against Sanketh. The ball was intercepted by Perera, and thrown back to the bowler's end. Visagie was yet to make his ground, when it hit Sanketh's hand and ricocheted off to the stumps. A procession of wickets began to fall, as Namibia slipped from 15 for one to 21 for six in 38 balls. Kalupahana and Vishwa Lahiru shared two wickets each in this period.

Namibia lost two more before the 20th over mark to Ruvishan Perera. An 18-run stand for the ninth wicket helped ensure that Namibia wouldn't fall to the second-lowest total in the tournament's history. However, Namibia's loss was merely a formality after Ruvishan struck for the third time to account for Hanro Badenhorst (11).

The African side were bowled out for 56, their second-lowest total in U19 World Cup history, beaten by 77 runs.

SRI LANKA: Dinesh Kalupahana; Gammanage Perera; Garuka Sanketh; Koskanwatte Perera; MahabalJayawardena (c); Malsha Tharupathi; Ravishan De Silva; Rusanda Gamage; Sharujan Shanmuganathan (wk); Supun Waduge; Vishwa Lahiru

NAMIBIA: Alex Busing-Volschenk (c); Gerhard Janse van Rensburg; Hanro Badenhorst; Henry van Wyk; Jack Brassell; Johannes de Villiers; Junior Kariata; JW Visagie (wk); Peter-Daniel Blignaut; Ryan Moffett; Zacheo van Vuuren

WEST INDIES DEFEAT SCOTLAND BY FIVE WICKETS

Scotland's Jamie Dunk and Adi Hegde put up 89 for the first wicket. The duo hit nine fours in their stand keeping their scoring pace at around four an over.

This solid start was eventually broken by Nathan Sealy. The spinner had Hegde trapped lbw in the 22nd over. Though Dunk (57) managed another good stand with Alec Price and reached his fifty in the process, West Indies struck back towards the end of the second Powerplay.

Isai Thorne got Price (31), Owen Gould (5), and Uzair Ahmad (7) in the space of three overs.

Bahadar Esakhiel (19) and Ruaridh McIntyre (17) ensured that the Scots just crossed the 200-run mark (205), but the European side would've lamented that their middle-order wasn't able to build up on a solid start.

West Indies lost three wickets early in their chase. After adding a quick 22 for the first wicket, Adrian Weir (7) fell while trying to send McIntyre past the covers. Stephan Pascal went ahead at a run a ball, before falling while trying to dispatch Logan Briggs out of the ground on 26. A loose shot from Joshua Dorne off Ibrahim Faisal brought about his demise, with the team score at 45. Mavendra Dindyal and Jordan Johnson, however, kept going for their shots, and ensured that West Indies went at over six an over.

Just as he was looking set for a big score, Dindyal was cleaned up when he tried to cut a delivery from Hegde. Qasim Khan then struck in the 17th over to send Johnson back for 24.

It was Jewel Andrew to the rescue again. The batter, who had scored a sizzling ton against South Africa, took on Scotland's bowlers and brought his side significantly closer to their ask. They eventually reached their target in the 89 balls to spare.

WEST INDIES: Adrian Weir; Isai Thorne; Jewel Andrew (wk); Jordan Johnson; Joshua Dorne; Mavendra Dindyal; Nathan Edward; Nathan Sealy; Raneico Smith; Stephan Pascal (c); Tarrique Edward

SCOTLAND: Adi Hegde; Alec Price; Bahadar Esakhiel; Ibrahim Faisal; Jamie Dunk; Logan Briggs; Nikhil Koteeswaran; Owen Gould (c) (wk); Qasim Khan; Ruaridh McIntyre; Uzair Ahmad

PAKISTAN DEFEAT NEPAL BY FIVE WICKETS IN EAST LONDON

The Rhinos scored at a brisk pace in the first Powerplay. Despite losing Arjun Kumal and Aakash Tripathi, they added a brisk 55 to the score. However, the economical Ali Asfand ensured that the scoring rate went down. He got rid of the Nepal skipper Dev Khanal for 23. 

Arafat Minhas then accounted for Uttam Magar and then Bipin Rawal between overs 21-30 to put Pakistan in command. When Khubaib Khalil had the experienced Gulshan Jha caught for 18, the Boys in Green had entered the tail.

Merely, 82 runs were added in the second Powerplay.

Just like the previous game, the Nepal tail stood up when it mattered. Cameos from Subash Bhandari and Aakash Chand helped the Rhinos finish close on 197.

The Pakistan openers preferred safety over style in the first Powerplay. Merely 33 runs came off it, with three boundaries between Shahzaib Khan and Shamyl Hussain. There was only a marginal increase in the scoring rate between overs 11-20, as the duo added 42 runs.

Aakash Chand struck back for the Rhinos, taking out the openers in the same over, with his short ball tactic. Both Shahzaib and Shamyl tried to take on Chand and ended up getting caught on the leg-side.

The incoming batters lost their wickets due to impatience, trying to dispatch the Nepal medium pacers into the stand. The loss of Arafat Minhas (8) and Saad Baig (0) significantly brought down the scoring rate.

Pakistan were in dire need of a rescuing act, and they got the same with a fifth-wicket stand between Azan Awais and Ahmad Hassan. The duo went about their job patiently, adding runs at a modest pace, while keeping their wickets intact. Their 64-run stand led Pakistan to a five-wicket win.

NEPAL: Aakash Chand; Aakash Tripathi; Arjun Kumal; Bipin Rawal; Dev Khanal (c); Dipak Dumre; Dipesh Kandel; Durgesh Gupta; Gulsan Jha; Subash Bhandari; Uttam Magar (wk)

PAKISTAN: Ahmad Hassan, Ali Asfand; Arafat Minhas; Azan Awais; Haroon Arshad; Khubaib Khalil; Mohammad Zeeshan; Saad Baig (c) (wk); Shahzaib Khan; Shamyl Hussain; Ubaid Shah

© ICC