ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – An unbeaten last wicket partnership between Sonal Dinusha and Amshi De Silva propelled Sri Lanka to a nail biting one-wicket victory over West Indies in day three action of Rising Stars U19 Tri-Series.
On another difficult batting wicket, Sri Lanka sent West Indies into bat after winning the toss and immediately their bowlers made life difficult for the host.
West Indies plummeted to 67/7 in the 34th over, with new ball bowler Amshi De Silva (6-1-18-3) and leg-spinner Kavindu Nadeeshan (10-1-20-4) being the bowling architects of this batting demise.
Kelvon Anderson (43) alongside useful cameos from lower-order batsmen Ashmead Nedd (21) and Jayden Seales (23), resisted and enabled West Indies to stretch the inning to the final over.
For the third game in a row West Indies bowlers stepped up to the mantle. Led by left-arm quick Ramon Simmonds (8-1-31-3) impressing with his pace and bounce, they fought back bravely as Sri Lanka collapsed to 101 for 9.
However Ashmi De Silva (10) coming off his efforts with the ball joined Sonal Dinusha (46) and their pairs unbeaten last-wicket stand denied the West Indies.
“We believe our bowling unit is one of the areas that is firing for us. We said to them (the bowlers) the wicket is not easy to score on, so once we hit good areas and put our shoulders to the throttle we could have brought this game home”, said West Indies U19 bowling coach Kenny Benjamin.
“When we look back at game the extra wide deliveries that were given away and not being able to score another 20-25 runs are areas we all have to improve on.”
WEST INDIES RISING STARS U19 TRI- SERIES SCHEDULE
All matches take place in Antigua, starting at 9.00am
Fri, 6th Dec 2019:
ODI 1 – West Indies v England
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium
Sun, 8th Dec 2019:
ODI 2 – West Indies v England
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium
Tues, 10th Dec 2019
ODI 3 – West Indies v Sri Lanka
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium
Wed, 11th Dec 2019
ODI 4 – England v Sri Lanka
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium
Thu, 12th Dec 2019
ODI 5 – West Indies v England
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium
Sat, 14th Dec 2019
ODI 6 – West Indies v Sri Lanka
Coolidge Cricket Ground
Sun, 15th Dec 2019
ODI 7 – Sri Lanka v England
Coolidge Cricket Ground
Tue, 17th Dec 2019
ODI 8 – West Indies v Sri Lanka
Coolidge Cricket Ground
Thu, 19th Dec 2019
ODI 9 – England v Sri Lanka
Coolidge Cricket Ground
Sat, 21st Dec 2019
ODI 10 – FINAL
Coolidge Cricket Ground
-CWI