Thewmika, Gamage put Sri Lanka Under 19 on top

A five wicket haul by right arm spinner Vihas Thewmika and a half ton by Rusanda Gamage helped Sri Lanka Under 19 to come out on top at the end of the first day’s play against the visiting West Indies Under 19 team in the 2nd unofficial Test match commenced today at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium.

Sri Lanka Under 19 thanks to Thewmika after bowling out West Indies Under 19 for a paltry score of 127 ended the day in a strong position of 191 for 4 which came on the back of a top knock of 58 in 52 balls which had ten boundaries by Gamage.

Sri Lanka Under 19 got off to an inauspicious start as they lost skipper Sineth Jayawardena. But man in form Pulindu Perera who made 41 and Ravishan de Silva 43 steadied the innings with the pair sharing a valuable 51 runs stand for the second wicket.

This followed with de Silva along with Gamage putting on another valuable stand of 72 runs for the third wicket before Dinura Kalupahana and Sharujan Shanmuganathan shared an unbroken 40 runs stand for the fifth wicket for the host side to end day one on 191 for 4.

The morning session of play saw West Indies Under 19 taking first lease of the wicket after winning the toss being given a sound start of 57 by openers Stephan Pascal and Steve Wedderburn but the separation of the pair saw Vihas Thewmika sending them reeling.

Thewmika who separated the openers bagged three more scalps and added to a run out the Windies juniors collapsed from a top position of 65 for 1 by losing four quick wickets for the addition of just five runs and slid to 70 for 5.

Jordan Johnson though holding out was forced to see losing his partners at the other end before spinner Malsha Tharupati took over to torment them as he bagged two scalps and had the visitors struggling on 123 for 8.

Johnson became the last wicket to fall as fell victim to Thewmika having made a top score of 52 in 49 balls that included six boundaries and two sixes as the young Windies were bundled out for a low score of just 127 runs in an inning that lasted just 36.4 overs. (M. Shamil Amit)

The match will be continued tomorrow.

Result

At Dambulla

• West Indies Under 19 127 (Jordan Johnson 52, Stephan Pascal 28, Steve Wedderburn 24: Vihas Thewmika 5 for 43, Malsha Tharupathi 3 for 16).
• Sri Lanka Under 19 191 for 4 (Rusanda Gamage 58, Ravishan de Silva 43, Pulindu Perera 41, Dinura Kalupahana 23 n.o,. Sharujan Shanmuganathan 21 n.o.).

  ---