A fourth-wicket partnership of 90 between Essex pair Noah Thain and Luc Benkenstein on home turf at Chelmsford could not prevent England Under-19s subsiding to a 65-run defeat in the first of three one-day internationals against Sri Lanka.

Benkenstein was the more flamboyant, hitting two sixes in his 50-ball 51, but Thain anchored the innings with six fours in his 58 from 69 balls.

However, when Thain and his captain departed eight balls apart after a 16-over stand, it left England facing an uphill task in chasing down 295 to win in 50 overs. They fell well short with 27 balls unused.

Sri Lanka’s 294 for 6 was powered by three contrasting half-centuries from the middle-order with Dinura Kalupahana smashing his 52 from just 37 balls, while Sharujan Shanmuganathan  required 75 balls for his 57 and Mahith Perera taking 60 balls for his 58.

Set to score at just shy of six an over, England were up with the rate after six overs when they lost their openers in the space of six balls to Sri Lanka’s off-spinner pair of Vihas Thewmika and Thisara Ekanayake. Freddie McCann was bowled by one that kept low and Keshana Fonseka, who had driven sweetly for five fours in his 25, chipped to short third man.

Charlie Allison had been playing second fiddle to his Essex team-mate, Noah Thain, and tried to remedy it by hitting Thisara straight out of the ground and was caught on the boundary for eight from 20 balls.

The second all-Essex partnership proved more productive with Benkenstein launched sixes over midwicket and long-off, followed by a classic cover drive for four. Benkenstein went for another big heave two ball after reaching his half-century and was caught on the midwicket boundary off Hivin Kenula.

Praveen Maneesha then ripped the heart out of England’s batting in the space of seven deliveries when he had Thain playing around one and Haydon Mustard late on another.

Rocky Flintoff, the 16-year-old son and Freddie, was Hivin’s second wicket when he tried to beat mid-off and Farhan Ahmed lasted two balls before lobbing back to Vihas Thewmika. Harry Moore played defiantly for his 26 before falling to Vihas and Noah Cornwell was bowled to end the match.

Middlesex’s Cornwall claimed 3 for 54 on his ODI debut including dismissing the Sri Lankan openers in an over after England had won the toss and put the visitors in in a green-tinged wicket of variable bounce.

Pulindu Perera had hooked fellow pace bowler Harry Moore over the wicketkeeper’s head for six in the previous over, but fell edging an inswinger to first slip. Thisara followed, violently pulling Cornwell to short fine leg.

Thain claimed the third Sri Lankan scalp when Gayana Weerasinghe hooked into deep square leg’s hands and England were in the ascendency.

Dinura led the counter-offensive, however, contributing 34 of the first fifty in a fourth-wicket stand worth 73 with Sharujan including lofting McCann over midwicket for six. But he departed one short of a half-century, playing down the wrong line to be lbw to Benkenstein.

Sharujan had been more tortoise to Dinura’s hare, but scampered the single that took him to a 64-ball fifty. However, he fell seven runs later when sweeping the parsimonious off-spinner Farhan Ahmed to short fine leg after helping Mahith add 67 for the fifth wicket.

Mahith and Diniru put on in the last 10 over with Mahith nudging Cornwell for the single that took him to his fifty from 55 balls. Diniru slapped Moore over square leg for a second maximum before reaching his own half-century from just 34 balls. He became Cornwell’s third victim when bowled off the penultimate ball of the innings.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka U19 294 for 6 in 50 overs (Gayana Weerasinghe 20, Mahith Perera 58*, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 57, Dinura Kalupahan 49, Diniru Abeywickramasingha 52; Noah Cornwell 3-54) beat England U19 229 in 43.3 overs (Keshana Fonseka 25, Noah Thain 58, Luc Benkenstein 51, Rocky Flintoff 22, Harry Moore 26; Hivin Kenula 2-28. Thisara Ekanayake 2-48, Vihas Thewmika 3-37, Praveen Manisha 2-50) by 65 runs

[Cricinfo]

India face South Africa in today’s showpiece event to conclude an amazing tournament in USA and West Indies.Something will have to give on Saturday when two undefeated records come head to head for the right to lift the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

India face South Africa in a clash of two sides undefeated thus far this tournament.

India seek to reclaim the trophy they last won in the inaugural 2007 edition, while South Africa are into the final for the first time – after seven previous World Cup semi-final defeats in all formats.

India have won every game they’ve been able to compete in, with the only dropped points coming from the abandoned fixture against Canada at a rain-soaked Lauderhill.

Impressive wins over Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Australia secured their spot in the knockout stages as the winners of Group 1 in the Super Eight – and they compounded their excellent form with a thumping victory over defending champions England in the semi-final.

South Africa have a perfect record at the tournament, but have been pushed close a number of times across their seven matches, with Netherlands, Bangladesh and Nepal all going close during the initial group stage, and tournament co-hosts USA doing the same at the start of the Super Eights.

They also won narrow matches against England and West Indies in the second stage – but then handed out a decisive nine-wicket win to Afghanistan in the semi-final.

The Kensington Oval is located in the west of the Barbadian capital and is the biggest Caribbean venue in terms of permanent capacity (28,000). Cricket has been hosted at the ground for over 120 years, with matches featuring international touring teams as early as 1895.The ground received upgrades ahead of the 2007 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, and was the venue for England’s T20 World Cup 2010 win over rivals Australia.

India:

Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

South Africa:

Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs. (ICC)

The West Indian top three of Stafanie Taylor, Hayley Matthews and Shemaine Campbelle ensured a triumphant end to a challenging tour of Sri Lanka, as they anchored a six-wicket win in the third and final T20I in Hambantota to complete a come-from-behind 2-1 series win.

Campbelle remained unbeaten at the end on a 30-ball 41 as West Indies chased down a target of 142 with just one ball to spare. The margin of victory however belies the control the visitors exuded in the chase.

Taylor and Mathews put on a 60-run opening stand in just 48 deliveries, after which Matthews paired up with Campbelle for a 44-ball 51-run stand. When Matthews fell, trapped leg before attempting to swipe one from Kawya Kavindi across the line, the West Indies were on 111 for 2.

With the requirement at roughly run-a-ball, Campbelle navigated the remainder of the chase expertly. The late wickets of Chedean Nation and Aaliyah Alleyne in the 18th and 19th overs conjured some late drama – both dismissed trying to hit out – but some smart running in the final over when just six runs were required ensured there were no further blips.

Earlier, having put Sri Lanka in to bat, West Indies got off to the ideal start dismissing Vishmi Gunaratne off just the second ball of the innings, the aggressive 18-year-old top-edging an attempted pull of Chinelle Henry.

Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama however responded well to the early setback with a partnership of 55 off 54, before Samarawickrama chipped one back to Afy Fletcher. This was followed by a 25-ball stand of 34 between Athapaththu and Kavisha Dilhari, but then Athapaththu would also fall, caught excellently in the deep by Shamilia Connell – making up for her drop of the same batter a short while earlier.

Athapaththu’s wicket in the 14th over and Dilhari’s (26 off 22) in the 16th – caught brilliantly by a leaping Henry at mid-off – fell at inopportune moments for the hosts, just as they might have been looking to accelerate.Some late blows from Ama Kanchana and Nilakshi de Silva pushed the total to 141, but Player of the Series Matthews and co eventually made light work of what could have been a tricky chase.