A valiant 75-run effort from Nathan Sealy could not save the West Indies Rising Stars Men’s Under 19s from a six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka Under 19s in the first Youth One Day International at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium
Batting first, the Rising Stars posted 223 all out in 49.1 overs, thanks to a top score of 75 off 82 from Sealy, which included five fours and three sixes. He shared in a 74-run seventh-wicket partnership with Tarrique Edward (27). Earlier at the start of the innings, Adrian Weir (32) and skipper Stephan Pascal (29) got the Rising Stars off to a solid start, sharing in a 58-run opening stance before Weir departed.
Garuka Sanketh was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers, finishing with figures of 10-0-48-5, followed by Dinura Kalupahana with 8.1-0-45-3.
Sri Lanka were in early trouble with their runchase, as Nathan Edward and Reon Edwards, scalped the opening pair of Pulindu Perera (11) and Sineth Jayawardena (0) to reduce the hosts to 11/2 inside four overs.
But their middle order restored the chase, as Ravishan De Silva and Supun Waduge shared in a 134-run partnership, with De Silva top-scoring with 65 from 85 deliveries and Waduge 56 from 78, before De Silva became Edward’s second scalp. Dinura Kalupahana 52 not out and Srujan Sammuganathen 20 not out took the home team to victory in 43.1 overs.
Both teams will meet again at the same venue on Wednesday for the second Youth ODI. First ball is at 10am local time (12:30am Eastern Caribbean/11:30pm Tuesday Jamaica).
–CWI
