Windies U-19s crush weak Khulna

DHAKA: Assad Fudadin smashed a century as the West Indies Under-19s flattened the Khulna Divisional XI in their Youth World Cup (YWC) warm-up match at the Khulna Divisional Stadium yesterday. The Caribbean side won by 193 runs after the Khulna XI could only manage 141 for nine off 50 overs in reply to the massive West Indies total of 334 for five off 50 overs. Electing to bat, the West Indies Under-19s dominated a weak bowling attack and Fudadin flourished with 107, which contained eight fours and four sixes,  before he retired.

Captain Dinesh Ramdin was run out for 73, while Tishan Maraj (52) and Lendl Simmons (39) also made useful contributions. When the Khulna XI batted, part-time off-spinner Xavier Marshall (3/32) and pacer Barrington Yearwood (2/38) restricted their run chase and the West Indies Under-19s ran out very easy winners in the lopsided match. West Indies team manager Roland Sampath was disappointed with low quality of the opposition they faced but enjoyed the efficiency of his side four days ahead of their opening YWC game.

The match was the first to be played at the Khulna Divisional Stadium and Sampath was happy that his side could get familiar with the conditions ahead of their YWC group games next week. New West Indies senior team pacer Ravi Rampaul who joined the team from the South Africa tour, was rested yesterday but will appear in the next warm-up game tomorrow against the Jessore DSA XI at the Jessore District Stadium. The West Indies Under-19s, semi-finalists at the last YWC in New Zealand two years ago, open against Ireland on Monday before meeting Papua New Guinea next Wednesday and Pakistan two days later.