Sports
Wellalage grabs four for none as Sri Lanka cruise to crushing win
ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup Warm-up matches
Sri Lanka Under 19s completed their ICC Under 19 World Cup preparations with a crushing 231-run win as the bowlers led by Dunith Wellalage produced a remarkable display to bowl out Uganda for just 46 runs in Guyana on Wednesday.
The St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road spinner Wellalalge was the pick of the bowlers. He finished with figures of four for none from his three overs as he raced through the Ugandan middle and lower order in the final preparation match ahead of Friday’s match of the tournament proper.
Just one batsman (Brian Asaba) reached double figures for Uganda as they were bowled out in the 22nd over.
Opening bowlers Yasiru Rodrigo and Chamindu Wickramasinghe took two wickets each to rattle the top order cheaply. Uganda were four wickets down for ten runs in the eighth over before Wellalalge came up with his four wicket haul.
Electing to bat first opener Chamindu Wickramasinghe was bowled second ball by Pascal Murungi for a duck. A 96-run partnership between Shevon Daniel (46) and Sadisha Rajapaksa (75 retired not out) got the innings back on track, while Yasiru Rodrigo’s unbeaten 32 (in 34 balls, 2x4s) helped Sri Lanka to 277 for eight from their 50 overs. Sakuna Liyanage hammered a quick fire 23 runs in 16 balls (3x4s, 1x6s).
For his run-a-ball 46 runs Daniel scored three fours and a six, while Rajapaksa’s 75 runs (90 balls) included nine fours.
Sri Lanka Under 19s will meet their Scotland counterparts in the first match of the ICC Under 19 World Cup today. Then they will meet Australia U19s in the second match on January 17. The final group match for Sri Lanka is against the hosts.
Scores:
Sri Lanka U19s
277 for 8 in 50 overs (Shevon Daniel 46, Sadisha Rajapaksa 75rtd. n.o., Dunith Wellalage 16, Pawan Pathiraja 21, Sakuna Liyanage 23, Yasiru Rodrigo 32n.o., Wanuja Kumara 15n.o.; Pascal Murungi 2/63, Yunusu Sowobi 2/52, Joseph Baguma 2/25)
Uganda U19s
46 all out in 21.2 overs (Brian Asaba 13; Yasiru Rodrigo 2/06, Chamindu Wickramasinghe 2/05, Dunith Wellalage 4/00)
In the other matches, the Proteas earned a three-wicket win in Guyana, England beat Papua New Guinea by 281 runs and Ireland registered a seven wicket win over Scotland.
Captain’s knock from Van Heerden sees South Africa past the hosts
In a low-scoring affair in Georgetown, it was South Africa captain and wicket-keeper George Van Heerden who set up a three-wicket win over the West Indies.
Matthew Boast (3-9) and Michael Copeland (2-14) had made early inroads for the South Africans after putting in the West Indies, reducing them to 61 for six.
Home skipper Ackeem Auguste then mounted some resistance, making 52 as he and Carlon Bowen-Tuckett (45) added 63 for the seventh wicket.
After Auguste was caught off the bowling of Andile Simelane, Bowen-Tuckett marshalled the tail before going hit wicket with the Windies being bowled out for 189.
Dewald Brevis hit 50 in reply for South Africa, including a 68-run partnership for the fourth wicket with his captain before falling to Onaje Amory.
McKenny Clarke (3-34) took three quick wickets, but Van Heerden’s unbeaten 61 ensured there were no late nerves for South Africa, who open their campaign against India on Saturday in Group B.
Top order fires England to big win
A 161-run opening partnership set England on their way to a mammoth 281-run win over Papua New Guinea in Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis.
Ahead of an opening clash with defending champions Bangladesh, England made the most of being put into bat as George Thomas (90) and Jacob Bethell (78) built the perfect platform.
Neither man could make it to three figures, but once they had departed, skipper Tom Prest took up the charge on his way to a 77-ball 91.
Like Thomas and Bethell, he fell short of a century but a quickfire 46 not out from James Sales carried England all the way to 359 for seven in their 50 overs.
That was always going to be out of reach for PNG, with Sales building on his batting with three early wickets on his way to three for 14.
Fateh Singh then picked up two for two including top-scorer Christopher Kilapat for 19 and PNG were eventually bowled out for 78 in 27.4 overs.
McGuire has Scotland in a spin
Five wickets from Nathan McGuire fired Ireland to a seven-wicket victory over Scotland in Georgetown.
The off-spinner helped reduce Scotland to 138 all out with his 5-33, removing top-scoring duo Tomas Mackintosh (26) and Muhaymen Majeed (24) in the space of three balls.
Muzamil Sherzad chipped in with two for 17 as Scotland struggled after electing to bat.
In reply, an unbeaten half-century from opener David Vincent (51 not out) made it a comfortable chase, despite Oliver Davidson’s three for 27.
Under 19 Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Mahinda College, Galle scored their second outright victory of the season and the first in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘B’ cricket tournament as Senuka Dangamuwa came up with his best bowling figures of the season to halt a fighting Moratu Vidyalaya outfit in Galle on Thursday.
After Arosha Udayanga anchored the tail with an unbeaten 41 runs for Mahinda to post 252 runs, the visitors resisted by posting their highest total of the tournament (200). Skipper Isuru Nidharshana was responsible for more than half of their score as he anchored the top order batting line up with a century. His knock of 105 runs came in 146 balls (12x4s, 1×6). Hasidu Gimsara came up with a 37-ball 46 runs which included four fours and three sixes.
However, their 67 overs of resistance could not prevent them from conceding defeat. Dangamuwa with a six wicket haul was the main wicket taker for Mahinda.
Mahinda only needed 45 runs to win and they reached the target for the loss of two wickets in seven overs.
It is the first outright victory for Mahinda in their group.
Meanwhile, Sri Sumngala, Panadura topped 300 runs against Wesley at Campbell Park. Neksha Iddamalgoda top scored with 119 runs, while Rusith Jayawardana (83) and Sandeep Wijerathne (92) made valuable half centuries.
Results
Mahinda beat Moratu Vidyalaya in Galle
Scores
Moratu Vidyalaya 96 all out in 45.2 overs (Sanjana Senavirathna 31, Shehara Fernando 20; Arosha Udayanga 5/35) and 200 all out in 67.2 overs (Isuru Nidharshana 105, Sanjana Senavirathne 20, Hasindu Gimsara 46; Kaveen Rukshan 2/50, Senuka Dangamuwa 6/65)
Mahinda 213 for 9 overnight 252 all out in 61.5 overs (Dulsith Darshana 106, Senuka Dangamuwa 50, Arosha Udayanga 41n.o.; Isuru Nidharshana 2/72, Nishitha Fernando 5/60) and 48 for 2 in 6.3 overs (Dulsith Dharshana 24)
Sri Sumangala post 330 at Campbell Park
Scores
Sri Sumangala 330 for 7 decl. in 84.3 overs (Rusith Jayawardana 83, Neksha Iddamalgoda 119, Sandeep Wijerathne 92; Dinuja Samararathna 3/104)
Wesley 45 for 1 in 13 overs
Through Dane Paterson’s five-fer, Corbin Bosch’s four-wicket haul on debut and Aiden Markram’s gutsy 47*, South Africa ended Day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan in a better position compared to the visitors. They finished at 82 for 3 at Stumps, trailing Pakistan’s 211 by 129 runs.
Despite Kagiso Rabada being the best bowler in terms of line and length for the hosts, he remained wicketless after testing the batters on both sides of the willow.
The hosts quickly managed to pick up the last wicket of Khurram Shahzad three balls into the final session bringing a strange Pakistan innings to an end who were aggressive despite losing regular clumps of wickets.
Markram then got South Africa’s innings underway with an elegant straight drive to the boundary but Shahzad accounted for his partner Tony de Zorzi as he rattled the stumps. With a peach of a delivery, Shahzad got one to seam inwards and had de Zorzi bowled for just two. Ryan Rickelton survived a review after he shouldered arms to a ball which came inwards but fortunately for him was missing the off-stump.
Markram punished two poor deliveries for four off Mohammad Abbas as he moved into double digits but Shahzad scalped his partner, getting him to nick behind to the ‘keeper. Markram and new batter Tristan Stubbs steadied the ship with a 44-run partnership which was dominated by the former. Markram played the ball with soft hands and guided testing deliveries to the fence along with pouncing on any width on offer.
Stubbs, who made only nine, was dismissed in an unfortunate manner with the ball keeping low and trapping him LBW. Skipper Temba Bavuma and Markram then played out the remaining overs to take South Africa to Stumps without any further wickets.
Earlier on, Pakistan survived the first hour of play unscathed but the introduction of Bosch changed the course of the game immediately. Shan Masood drove loosely away from his body, edging one to Marco Jansen at gully, off Bosch’s first ball in Test cricket before Paterson picked up Saim Ayub.
Babar Azam scored only four while Saud Shakeel played a strange six-ball 14 in a mindlessly aggressive innings as Pakistan had fallen to 56 for 4 before Lunch.
Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Rizwan resurrected the innings with an 81-run stand but the former threw his wicket almost immediately after reaching his milestone, as Paterson struck in the first over of his fresh spell. Ghulam had played a wild swipe to deep backward-square leg.
Salman Agha too raced off the blocks with a boundary but Rizwan fell soon after edging one to slips as Paterson picked up his fourth. Salman and Aamer Jamal attempted to resurrect the innings with a mini partnership of 47 runs in quick time before a mini collapse ensued as Jamal chopped one back on to his stumps before Salman and Naseem Shah departed within the next eight balls.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan 211 (Kamran Ghulam 54, Aamer Jamal 28; Dane Paterson 5-35, Corbin Bosch 4-24) lead South Africa 82/3 (Aiden Markram 47*, Tristan Stubbs 9; Khurram Shahzad 2-28, Mohammad Abbas 1-36) by 129 runs.
With his family and well-wishers watching along from the Queens Sports Club balcony, Zimbabwe’s veteran batter Sean Williams celebrated his fifth Test ton in Bulawayo to give the hosts the upper hand in the Boxing Day Test against Afghanistan, as they finished on 363 for 4.
Williams not only negated Afghanistan’s spin challenge comfortably but also dominated the other bowlers to finish unbeaten on 145. His control percentage of 90 on a surface that offered decent turn right from the start of play displayed just that, with the inexperienced Afghanistan bowling attack – the visitors were missing Rashid Khan for the Test owing to personal reasons – looking both deflated and bruised by the end of it.
Walking in at the start of the second session to face his first ball with Zimbabwe at 92 for 2, Williams relied on his footwork to get on top of the bowling. Usually a frequent sweeper, Williams, on this occasion, took to the cuts, drives and pulls to shepherd the Zimbabwe innings. With Afghanistan not offering anything too full knowing Williams’ love for the sweep, he countered the bowlers’ lengths by rocking back or going on to the front foot with equal ease.
When Williams charged down the track, he lifted sixes over long-on and long-off. When he hung back, he created the time to slap boundaries through the off side. Williams’ enterprising batting earned him a half-century off 58 balls, and a century off 115.
But Williams’ innings wasn’t the only one to help Zimbabwe finish the day on a high. Opener Ben Curran, one of three Zimbabwe debutants and one of six across the two XIs, set the tone early with 68 off 74 balls. He welcomed fellow debutant Azmatullah Omarzai into Test cricket with a boundary off the allrounder’s first ball in the format, before unleashing ten more boundaries.
Curran was the majority contributor in a 43-run opening partnership with Joylord Gumbie (9), and a 49-run second-wicket stand with Takudzwanashe Kaitano (46), but fell to teen debutant AM Ghanzafar in the last over before lunch after a wrong’un sneaked through his defence to knock his stumps back.
Kaitano and Dion Myers (27), batting at No. 5, could not make full use of their starts, but their time in the middle ensured Zimbabwe lost just one wicket apiece in the two sessions after lunch. With Williams, Kaitano added 78 for the third wicket, while Myers put on 50 for the fourth.
Myers’ dismissal in the 56th over, caught and bowled by Ghazanfar for his second strike, brought in Zimbabwe’s captain Craig Ervine at No. 6, and he made certain that Afghanistan finished the day with way more questions than answers. With Williams showing how to score freely, Ervine dug in and quietly brought up his sixth Test fifty with a leg-side dominant innings.
Ervine’s knock was chanceless, unlike Williams, who, when on 124, needed the aid of a no-ball from Zahir Khan to continue batting. However, Ervine’s 56 in an unbeaten partnership of 143 for the sixth wicket was equally crucial for Zimbabwe to stamp their dominance on the day.
Play was called off five overs before the scheduled stumps owing to bad light, with Zimbabwe ending the day with a run rate of 4.27.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 363 for 4 in 85 overs (Sean Williams 145*, Ben Curran 68, Takudzwanashe Kaitano 46, Craig Ervine 56*; AM Ghazanfar 2-83) vs Afghanistan
[Cricinfo]
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