Sri Lanka trounce Scotland by 40 runs at Everest

A ROBUST knock of 85 from middle-order batter Sakuna Liyanage, coupled with 4 wickets from spinner Dunith Wellalage, helped Sri Lanka U19 romp to an easy 40-run win over Scotland yesterday at the Everest Cricket Club (ECC) ground.

The Camp Road venue came alive as match two had a bit of sizzle due to both young teams looking good during their opening round contest, with the Asians drawing first blood.

Batting first, Sri Lanka posted 218 all out despite the lone run-a-ball half-century from Liyanage. Opener Chamindu Wickramasinghe hit 28, Sadisha Rajapaksa 24, and 30 from lower-order batter Raveen De Silva capped off a decent batting expo from the young Asian side.

Bowling for the Scottish was led by right-arm seamer Sean Fischer-Keogh who returned 3 for 56. Help came from Jack Jarvis and Oliver Davidson who snapped up 2 wickets apiece.
Jarvis then returned with the bat to almost be the hero of the day, smashing 55 with 3 sixes and as many fours, but came up short in the end as Scotland could muster only 178 inside 49 overs.

The chase looked positive for Scotland, who had 7 players reach double-figure scores, including 5 in the top 7. After a good show with the ball, opener Davidson (15) and his partner Charlie Tear (17) got things going before losing their way.

Samuel Elston (13), Tomas McIntosh (19), Lyle Roberson (14) and Charlie Peet (10) were the others to reach double figures but were not equipped for the skill and class of the left-arm spinner Wellalage and company.

The surface and the seawall breeze played well into the craft of Wellalage who bagged wickets at the start, middle and back end of the innings to keep his team in a dominant position and give them the momentum as they prepare for their next challenge.

Action continues today at Providence with India battling South Africa, while Ireland play Uganda at Everest.
Over in Trinidad and Tobago, PNG will tackle Zimbabwe while UAE and Canada will meet at the Conaree Sports Club, St Kitts. (Clifton Ross)