Daniel anchors Sri Lanka Under 19s as hosts seal series

St. Joseph’s College all-rounder Shevon Daniel played the sheet anchor role to help Sri Lanka Under 19 pull off an exciting three wickets victory over their Bangladesh counterparts in the third Youth ODI as the hosts clinched the five-match series with two games to spare at Dambulla on Wednesday.

Chasing a cautious target of 185 runs to win, the hosts lost both their openers – Harindu Jayasekara and Ryan Fernando- cheaply. The batsmen from St. Thomas’ Matara and S. Thomas’, Mount Lavinia respectively were replacing Sadeesh Jayawardena and Jeewaka Shasheen who played in the last two matches.

The hosts were two wickets down for 14 runs when Daniel joined Pawan Pathiraja to build a valuable 75 runs stand for the third wicket. Pathiraja who had struck consecutive half centuries made 31 and helped the hosts ease their nerves. But when he was caught and bowled by Ahosan Habib in the 22nd over and triggered a mini collapse leaving Sri Lanka struggling at 96 for six. They slid further when Vinuja Ranpul was bowled by Mushfik Hasan.  Daniel was then joined by Wanuja Kumara who was lucky to receive two lives in a match-deciding partnership. The Joe Pete combination was responsible for an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 66 runs. Kumara’s contribution was 38 runs which included two fours. Daniel scored an unbeaten 85 runs, inclusive of seven fours and a six (117 balls) to seal the match and cement his place.

The hosts made five changes to the team that won back-to-back matches. Vinuja Ranpul, Lahiru Dewatage and Wanuja Kumara were the others who came in (to replace Sadisha Rajapaksha, Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Yasiru Rodrigo). Of the five replacements Kumara and Ranpul made the most of the opportunity. Kumara bowled economically and grabbed two wickets giving away just 26 runs in his quota of ten overs which included three maidens.

Deciding to bat first Bangladesh top order collapsed as Ranpul, Mathew and Raveen de Silva did well reducing them to 71 for seven wickets by the 19th over.  They further slipped when de Silva bowled Ariful Islam for nine runs to take his third wicket. Bangladesh were 107 for eight wickets at that stage.

But Ashikur Zaman staged a dramatic fight back anchoring the innings with an unbeaten half century to help the visitors post 184 runs. Zaman added a valuable 71 runs stand for the ninth wicket with Ahosan Habib who added 33 runs. Zaman also had the support of Naimur Rohman as the duo batted together for 15 overs to fight back.

Zaman’s unbeaten 54 came in 73 balls and included seven fours.

The two teams will meet for the fourth Youth ODI on Saturday.