Pakistan win tri-series final by eight wickets

Chris DHAMBARAGE

The Pakistan under-19 team proved why they are tipped to retain the ICC Youth World Cup for the third successive year when they annihilated hosts Sri Lanka by a convincing margin of eight wickets in the Tri Series under 19 limited overs cricket tournament final worked off at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.

Pakistan skittled out the Lankans for just 131 runs from 36 overs after electing to field first and then raced to their target with more then 20 overs to spare in a completely one sided encounter. The tournament was organized by Sri Lanka Cricket in preparation for the International Cricket Council Under-19 World Cup which will be staged in Malaysia next month.

Man-of-the-Match Umar Akmal smashed a swashbuckling 47 from just 20 deliveries with two sixes and eight boundaries to spearhead Pakistan’s run chase. He also put on 46 runs for the first wicket with Ahmed Shehzad off just 3.3 overs.

Umar Amin (38 n.o) and Shan Masood (26 n.o) then added the finishing touches with an unfinished third wicket partnership of 66 runs as Pakistan were home in the 28th over of the innings.

Earlier Sri Lanka under 19 simply threw away a golden opportunity of making a match of it when they slumped to 131 runs after having reached a promising 81 for 2 in the 17th over. In a dramatic middle order collapse Sri Lanka lost eight wickets for the addition of just 50 runs from 18 overs.

The openers Dilshan Munaweera and Dinesh Chandimal of course kept their hopes alive with a solid stand of 58 runs from ten overs. They looked quite confident and were heading in the right direction before some indiscipline batting spoiled their chances of putting up a decent score on the board.

The Pakistan spinners caused most of the damage with Imad Wasim and Umar Akmal capturing three wickets each. Opener Munaweera hit a top score of 39 for Sri Lanka with one six and half a dozen of boundaries.

International Cricket Council Chief Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle was the chief guest and distributed the awards.

SRI LANKA UNDER-19
   
D. Munaweera c Umair Mir b Imad Wasim 			39
D. Chandimal c Ali Asad b Mohammed Rameez 		21
L. Thirimanne b Imad Wasim 				16
K. Perera c Ali Asad b Umar Akmal 			 4
A. Priyanjan c Ahmed Shehzad b Umar Akmal 		14
R. Silva b Imad Wasim 					 4
S. Pathirana c Usman Salahuddin b 
Umar Akmal 						 5
U. Karunaratne c Ali Asad b 
Mohamed Aamer 					 	 1
T. Perera run out 					 1
I. Jayaratne not out 				  	 8
N. Kavikara run out 					 1

EXTRAS (b5, lb4, w8) 					17
TOTAL (all out in 36 overs) 			       131

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-58, 2-81, 3-95, 4-95, 5-100, 6-113, 7-116, 8-122, 9-122.
BOWLING: Mohamed Aamer 8-1-27-1, Adil Raza 8-0-36-0,
	 Mohammed Rameez 7-1-23-1, Imad Wasim 6-0-18-3, Umar Akmal 6-0-17-3, Ahmed Shehzad 1-0-1-0.
      
PAKISTAN UNDER-19
   
Ahmed Shehzad lbw b Pathirana 				20 
Umar Akmal c Thirimanne b Munaweera 			47
Umar Amin not out 					38
Shan Masood not out 					26

Extra (w3) 						 3
TOTAL (for 2 wkts in 27.2 overs) 	  	       134

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-46, 2-68.
BOWLING: 1-0-14-0, S. Pathirana 10-2-34-1, I. Jayaratne 1-0-22-0,
	 D. Munaweera 6-0-30-1, U. Karunaratne 7-0-20-0, N. Kavikara 2.2-0-14-0.