Sri Lanka move into semi-finals
Sri Lanka is the third team to reach semi-finals of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup with a six-wicket victory over England in the quarter-finals held on Sunday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur.
Chasing a winning target of 185 runs, Sri Lanka hardly had to a sweat as they reached home making 186 in 35.4 overs with six wickets in hand.
Thanks to opener Avishka Fernando for his 95-run knock that easily helped the Islanders stroll towards the destination.
England had won the toss and decided to bat, and all out for 184 in 49.2 overs.
A decision their captain Brad Taylor defended quite strongly at the presentation.
"We didn`t think it did an awful lot early," he said and thought 250 could have been within their reach had the middle overs gone better. As such they were all out for 184 without facing their full quota of overs, source cricket website.
Not that the first few overs went England`s way either. Opener Dan Lawrence dragged one onto his stumps for 9, his partner Max Holden was caught at slip for 8 and the tournament`s top scorer Jack Burnham could only manage 11 at
No. 3.
Callum Taylor tried to resurrect the innings with 42 off 57 balls, but his wicket triggered a middle-order collapse. What would rankle England more was the ball that got Taylor lbw had pitched outside leg stump as he was playing a shot.
England fell from 120 for 4 in the 35th over to 136 for 7 in the 40th as Sri Lanka strangled the innings with spin. Leg break bowler Wanidu Hasaranga picked up 3 for 34.
Out walked the Sri Lanka openers and cashed in 51 runs in eight overs before the lunch break. Avishka battered left-arm seamer Sam Curran for four successive fours in the third over and never looked back.
He got to his 50 off 44 balls and looked set for a hundred until he choose to swipe at a bouncer he had originally seemed to duck under and was caught behind for 95. It was only a minor roadblock for Sri Lanka though, who coasted to victory with six wickets and 86 balls to spare.
