BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE junior West Indies team competing in the tri-series with England and Sri Lanka ended the competition with a win over the latter in Antigua and Barbuda.
Playing at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, the West Indies U-19 defeated their Sri Lankan counterparts by 7 runs on match-day eight of the West Indies Rising Stars U-19 Tri-Series.
After losing the toss and asked to bat, West Indies U-19 captain Kimani Melius started the innings with a mammoth six and followed up with a boundary, but did not last much longer.
Racing to 11 off just five deliveries, he was caught by R. Rasantha off Amshi de Silva, putting a speed bump in the West Indies innings with the score at 1/14.
His opening partner, Mbeki Joseph, did not last much longer as he was caught behind for 5 off a de Silva delivery that rose off the surface and enticed him to slash at it.
After the quick fall of those two wickets (2/20), Leonardo Julien looked set to rebuild not only the team’s innings but to add runs to his personal tally, which in the last two matches have been difficult for him.
Kirk McKenzie perished for a 12-ball 8 with the score on 41/3 in 6.4 overs, and while Julien looked set to get himself in the runs he was trapped LBW by Ashian Daniel for 19, leaving his team tottering on 47/4 after 8 overs.
Kevlon Anderson, who has been the rock of the middle order, carried on his patient and timely batting in an innings-rebuilding partnership with Matthew Patrick, which provided scoring stability before Anderson was caught by A. Daniel off Kavindu Nadeeshan for 17, with the score on 84 in the 22nd over.
Then came the partnership that ensured the young men in maroon reach the 200-run mark before the close of their innings.
Patrick was joined by second-time ICC U-19 World Cup-bound Nyeem Young and the pair showed their mental toughness with the team in a precarious scoreboard position.
Quick running between the wickets for singles and twos, combined with 4-fours from Patrick and a pair of sixes and boundaries from Young, saw both youngsters reach their first half-centuries in the tri-series.
With the partnership on 85, Patrick was the first to depart, stumped for 57, while Young added 20 runs with Jayden Seales before he was bowled by de Silva for 55.
The WI U-19 finished their innings on 207/9 from their 50 overs with Patrick and Young top scoring with 57 and 55 respectively.
Amshi de Silva was the pick of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, finishing with 5/44 from his 10 overs, while Kavindu Nadeeshan took 2/40 from 10 overs.
In their run chase, Sri Lanka’s innings got a blow in the first over when Matthew Forde had Navod Paranavithana caught behind off the first ball.
They then quickly lost two more wickets when Ravindu Rasantha and Ahan Wickramasinghe fell for 2 and 1 respectively to leave their team’s innings in peril on 8/3 after 4.1 overs.
However, when their in-form captain Nipun Dananjaya came to the crease with wicketkeeper Kamil Mishara, together they rebuilt the innings.
In the run-chase, the pair rotated the strike taking singles and twos as the West Indies were at times slow in the field. And in so doing, they took the score to 107 before Mishara fell for 50, caught by Melius off Ashmead Nedd.
Sonal Dinusha then joined his captain and the pair looked set to take Sri Lanka to the 208-run target. However, Matthew Forde was reintroduced into the bowling attack and accounted for Dananjaya’s wicket for 74.
Nyeem Young then wrapped up three quick wickets of Dinusha, Lakshan Damage and Amshi de Silva for 45, 8 and 0 respectively.
Sri Lanka finished their innings on 200/8 from their 50 overs, with Sudeera Thilakaratne not out on 0.
Matthew Forde was the pick of the West Indies U-19 bowlers, finishing with figures of 3/29. He was followed by Nyeem Young with 4/48.
Head Coach Graeme West said, “It’s nice to finish the series on a positive note, also to turn around the result from Saturday after that heavy defeat against the same playing eleven, it’s pleasing. We spoke a lot after the last game, so it’s good to see some of the things we discussed work out in the middle and good to see some of our players perform under pressure and perform well. And our bowling unit got it done today.”
