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| Monday, 16 February 2004 |
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Hard fought win for Sri Lanka Bogra, Bangladesh, Sunday Sri Lanka launched their campaign for the ICC under 19 Youth World Cup with an exciting two wicket win over Zimbabwe at the Bogra District Stadium here today. Watched by a capaicity crowd of over 16,000 fans Suraj Mohamed hit the winning run in the second ball of the 39th over as Sri Lanka scored 162 for 8 in reply to Zimbabwe's modest total of 161 all out. The match itself was a historic fixture and was the first international game to be played at the Chandu Stadium which is situated some 160 kilometres away from the capital Dhaka. But the real match winner for Sri Lanka was all rounder Kosala Kulasekera who scored a fighting unbeaten knock of 37. But his innings was worth more than a half century considering the situation of the game. Nuwan Kulasekera first steadied the Sri Lanka innings with a seventh wicket partnership of 83 runs along with Gihan de Silva. The Lankans were in deep trouble having collapsed to 65 for 6 by the 15th over of the innings. The top order failed to make an impact against some hostile bowling from Ransford and Panyangara. The Lnkans were keen to finish off the game as early as possible having underestimated their opponents and paid the penalty as they lost half of their side for just 64 runs at one stage. Gihan de Silva provided excellent support to Kulasekera with a determined knock of 33 from 58 balls including three fours. He was well set to complete a half century and were cruising along well at that stage. But the wicket keeper batsman lost his concentration in the 34th over and top edged a delivery from Chigumbura while adding more pressure on his senior batsman. Sri Lanka suffered another setback almost immediately when Angelo Mathews went for a first ball duck in the 36th over. The Lankans were now really struggling and their chances of pulling off the game looked really uncertain. However Kosala Kulasekera held his nerve and handled the pressure situation quite well to guide his team towards a morale boosting win at the end. He was named as the man of the match having also captured one wicket for 23 runs from eight overs. Earlier Sri Lanka put up an impressive performance to dismiss Zimbabwe for 161 runs after they had won the toss and decided to field. The Lankans really dominated the early stages with a superb all round performance where they reduced the opposition to 41 for 5 at one stage. The wicket was not the ideal for stroke making but nevertheless Sri Lanka bowled to a good line and length and also held on to every catch on the field. Skipper Farveez Maharoof led the way with a magnificent spell of bowling where he returned the best bowling figures of 4 for 28 from 9.3 overs. Maharoof exploited the conditions to good effect during his first spell and then came back to polish off the innings with two more wickets. Zimbabwe had a good chance of pulling off the game when they got rid off the Sri Lankan top order for under 75 runs. But they conceded as many as 35 extras and gave away too many runs during the latter stages which made the difference at the end. The two opening bowlers Ransford and Panyangara brought Zimbabwe back into the game by capturing two early wickets before Kosala Kulasekera produced the innings of his life to steer Sri Lanka to a fantastic victory. ZIMBABWE INNINGS Bredon Taylor b Maharoof 5 James Cameroon b Chanaka 1 Sean Williams c de Silva b Mathews 47 Tenotenda Mawoya run out (Chanaka) 0 Craig Ervine ct Maharoof b Kulasekera 13 Tafadzwa Mufambisi b Maharoof 1 Elton Chigumbura b Suraj 6 Colin Grandhomme b Maharoof 41 Stanley Marisa c de Silva b Mathews 2 Tinasha Punyangara b Maharoof 23 Eadward Ransford not out 1 Extras (lb5, w16) 21 TOTAL all out in 49.3 overs 161 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9, 2-10, 3-10, 4-40, 5-41, 6-70, 7-105, 8-115, 9-160. BOWLING: Maharoof 9.3-2-28-4, Chanaka 10-3-43-1, Kulasekera 8-1-23-1, Mohamed 10-3-29-1, Mathews 10-2-27-2, Ratnayake 2-0-6-0. SRI LANKA INNINGS Upul Tharanga c Grandhomme b Rainsford 11 Damindu Kularatne b Panyangara 0 Harsha Vithana c Mawoyo b Rainsford 4 Ganganath Ratnayake c Ervine b Chigumbura 22 Kaushal Silva c Taylor b Chigumbura 9 Farveez Maharoof c Taylor b Panyangara 2 Gihan de Silva c Panyangara b Chigumbura 33 Kusala Kulasekera not out 37 Angelo Mathews lbw b Cameron 0 Mohamed Suraj not out 9 Extras (B4, LB12, W19) 35 TOTAL for 8 wickets in 38.2 overs 162 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11, 2-24, 3-35, 4-61, 5-64, 6-65, 7-148, 8-148. BOWLING: Rainsford 10-0-37-2, Panyangara 10-1-41-2, Chigumbura 9.2-1-37-3, Grandhomme 1-0-5-0, Williams 4-0-14-0, Cameron 4-0-12-1.
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