Under 19 Asia Cup Cricket: Sri Lanka record second win

Praveen Jayawickrama- Photo credit: thepapare.com

Opener  Hasitha Boyagoda (53) hit a fine half-century before left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama finished with figures of 5 for 17 to lead Sri Lanka U-19 to a comfortable 61-run win over Afghanistan U-19 in their rain-affected (42 overs) Asia Cup match at the Bayuemas Oval ground in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This was  Sri Lanka’s second win in the tournament. Hasitha played sensibly in his 84-ball 53. He had three boundaries and six. He shared 55 for the opening wicket with Dhananjaya Lakshan who chipped in with a 24 after being invited to bat by Afghanistan U19 skipper Naveen-ul-Haq.

However, the batsmen lost their momentum and with ten overs left the Sri Lankans were 125 for 4.

Some sensible batting by deputy skipper Jehan Daniel who made a quick-fire knock of 36 and support coming from Nuwanidu Fernando saw Sri Lanka teens accumulating 71 runs in the last ten overs to end their innings at a modest 196. Then Jayawickrema ran through the innings with a five-wicket haul. Jayawickrema bagged two quick wickets to have the opponents struggling on 61 for 4 in the 19th over and the cleaned off the tail with two more wickets in his seventh over to bowl them out for 135 runs.

At Bayuemas Oval – Sri Lanka U19 won by 61 runs

Sri Lanka U19 196 for 8 in 42 overs (Hasitha Boyagoda 53, Jehan Daniel 36, Dhananjaya Lakshan 24 and Nuwanidu Fernando 19: Ibrahim Zadran 2 for 24, Naveen-ul-Haq 2 for 57)

Afghanistan U19 135 in 33 overs (Darwish Rasooli 50, Ibrahim Zadran 27: Praveen Jayawickrama 5 for 17, Jehan Daniel 2 for 20)

At Kinrara Academy Oval – Bangladesh U19 won by two wickets

Nepal U19 167 for 6 in 40.1 overs (Bhim Sharki 44, Rohit Kumara 40, Aasif Sheikh 30, Anil Sah 19: Nayeem Hasan 3 for 33)

Bangladesh U19 181 for 8 in 39.5 overs (Naim Sheikh 52, Afif Hassan 33, Pinak Ghosh 24, Mahidul Islam Ankon 23, Towhid Hridoy 15: Sandeep Lamichhane 2 for 35, Kamat Singhe 2 for 37)