Captain Dunith Wellalage led from the front with a fighting hundred as Sri Lanka defeated South Africa by 65 runs to advance to the fifth-place play-off at the ICC Under-19 men’s World Cup in North Sound. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first and put up a fighting total of 232/6. In reply, the Proteas were bundled out for 167.
Sri Lanka’s innings got off to a rocky start and were reeling at 25/3 at one point. The captain, batting at number five, anchored the innings. Wellalage along with Shevon Daniel added 62 runs for the fourth wicket. At 87/4 after 25.3 overs, Ranuda Somarthane walked in to join his skipper and the duo added 130 runs, taking the total beyond 200. Wellalage scored 113 0f 130 balls whereas Somarthane remained unbeaten on 57 of 70 balls.
For the Proteas, Kwena Maphaka picked 3/60 and was the pick of the bowlers, Mathew Boast was highly economical with figures of 2/21 in nine overs.
The chase never took off for South Africa as they were scoring above the required run rate but frequent dismissals hampered their progress as the Sri Lankan bowlers split the wickets between them.
Gerhardus Maree was the top scorer with 44 along with Rohan Herman 34. For the island nation, Raveen de silva, Shevon Daniel and Traveen Mathew picked two wickets each. Proteas fell short of the target by 65 runs.
Uganda win rain-affected match to seal 13th place
Uganda did not let the rain affect their spirits as they beat Scotland by 51 runs (DLS method) to earn 13th place overall. Batting first Uganda scored 226. In reply, Scotland were wrapped up for 170 runs.
Ronald Lutaaya (64) and captain Pascal Murungi (49) were the top scorers for Uganda. For Scotland, Jamie Cairns picked six wickets. In the Scottish innings, Jack Jarvis top-scored 37 off 33 balls followed by Oliver Davidson (31). Juma Miyaji scalped 4/25 and Christopher Kidega grabbed 3/23.
The 13th-place play off between Uganda and Scotland got off to a delayed start in Diego Martin as rain prevented the two sides taking the field for over an hour and the game was initially reduced to 45 overs a side.
The third match of the day between Papua New Guinea and Canada was cancelled due to Covid-19 outbreak in the camp.
