Centurion Somarathna guides SL U19 to victory against England U19 at Essex

By Leonard Ratnayake

Sri Lanka U19 registered an emphatic win against their English counterparts in a 4-day unofficial Test played at Essex County Cricket Club grounds in Chelmsford in England on Wednesday. Chasing 273 runs to win in the last two sessions, Sri Lankan batters guided by Ranuda Somaratna with an unbeaten match-winning century ensured a Sri Lankan victory with three wickets to spare and only 11 balls left. He was unbeaten on 120.

England U19 coming into the final day on a lead of 179 runs with seven wickets in hand were bundled out for just 93 runs adding to the score. They made 292 in their second innings after scoring 387 in the first. Ravindu Ranasinghe took three wickets while engaging in four dismissals of the English second innings. Skipper Ravin de Silva took two important wickets to restrict the home side to 292 runs.

Sri Lanka were left with 273 runs to win in a minimum of 59 overs. Sri Lanka had scored 407 runs in their first innigns.

However, Sri Lanka U19 top order could not live up to the expectations as they were dismissed cheaply with the team reeling at 4 for 48 with all top orders back in the pavilion.

It was skipper Ravin de Silva together with the centurion Ranuda Somaratne who revived the Sri Lankan innings, but de Silva’s innings was short-lived as he departed for 22 runs. Somaratne then was joined by Lahiru Dawatage who put up a solid partnership of 89 runs to foresee victory signs for the young Sri Lankans. Next man in Vinuja Ranpul scored 18 runs to put up a 42 run partnership but was caught at deep third man going for an unwanted shot of the momentum.