Under-19s lose to draw series with Lankans

COLOMBO: Off-spinner Mohammed Suraj captured six wickets and guided Sri Lanka to 27-run victory over West Indies in the last match of their pre-Youth World Cup Under-19 limited overs cricket series yesterday.

In form Xavier Marshall smashed an attacking 76 for the West Indies but they were bowled out for 225 off 47.4 overs in response to the home team’s 252 for eight off 50 overs and forced to share the series 2-2. “I am disappointed that we didn’t win the last match, we played well but we didn’t bowl as well as we possibly could, they (Sri Lanka) got about 30 runs more than they should have gotten,” West Indies coach Clyde Butts told CMC Sport.

Suraj finished with six for 43 off 9.4 overs for Sri Lanka, who had won the opening match last Saturday but lost games two and three this week. Sent to bat, the Sri Lankans got a solid start with Daminda Kularatne (59) and Upul Thuranga (38), posting 105 runs for the first wicket. Number three batsman Ganganath Ratnayake contributed an attacking 44 off 53 balls with four fours and one six to strengthen the Sri Lankans’ position.

 Bowling for the West Indies, off-spinner Zam-al Khan picked up four for 68 off eight overs, and opening bowler Mervyn Matthew had tidy returns of two for 30 off 10 overs. West Indies were without their leading fast bowlers Barrington Yearwood (groin strain) and Lionel Baker (unwell). Jonathan Aug-ustus (1-41) and Rishi Bachan (1-42) were the other wicket-takers for the West Indies. Marshall, by far the leading scorer in the series, top-scored in the West Indies reply with 76 off 92 balls, including six fours and three sixes.

Captain Denesh Ram-din (44), Augustus (26) and Lendl Simmons (23) were the next highest scorers as the West Indies fell short of their target. “We just lost wickets at regular intervals, I thought we played well but on the day, Sri Lanka was better than us,” Butts said. Marshall, who had scores of 61 and 86 in the previous two matches, finished the series with an aggregate of 223 runs, well clear of Thuranga (136) as the most prolific scorer in the series.

The West Indies Under-19s leave Sri Lanka tomorrow for Bangladesh where the ICC Youth World Cup (YWC) starts on February 15. Semi-finalists at the last championship (New Zealand 2002), the West Indies will play in Group “D” of the YWC along with Pakistan, Ireland and Papua New Guinea.