CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand-AN unbeaten century from Yannic Cariah earlier today (Jan. 29) guided West Indies to a four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the third place playoff of the ICC Under-19 World Cup.
The 50-over match saw West Indies starting sleepily after choosing to bowl first, and the opening partnership of Denuwan Rajakaruna and Udara Jayasundera for Sri Lanka was quick to take advantage through confident strokes.
The pair added 174 from just 35.1 overs before Jayasundera was eventually run out by Kraigg Brathwaite. Rajakaruna powered on for five more overs before he was bowled by Nevisian Nelson Bolan, six runs shy of his century.
Bolan proved to be a hero for West Indies’ bowling attack again when he picked up the wicket of the surging Rumesh Buddika, who nearly rallied Sri Lanka after their initial loss by slogging his way to 34 from 17 balls with 4 fours and a six.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa confidently held on for 44/not out as West Indies gained traction with their bowling in the later overs. Sri Lanka would eventually leave West Indies with an intimidating target of 292 to chase.
They went on to put West Indies in an even tighter position when Chathura Peiris caught top batsman Brathwaite’s pad on his first ball for a duck. Brathwaite’s fellow opening batsman Trevon Griffith did not fare much better, as he was also dismissed early by Peiris after only contributing a single.
The slide was abruptly stopped by the 120-run third wicket partnership between John Campbell and Cariah, however. Campbell added 77 from 70 balls, while Cariah powered his way to 110/not out from his 201 minute stand, which contained 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Other than Peiris’ skillful pace in the early overs, Sri Lanka struggled to find openings against the West Indies batsmen and a 33 from wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich in conjunction with 41 from Jermaine Blackwood helped to push the Caribbean team to a winning total of 294 from 48.3 overs.
The 17-year-old Cariah was given the man-of-the-match award for his confident leadership in the crease through the day’s three crucial partnerships for West Indies.
Tomorrow (Jan. 30) Pakistan is scheduled to take on Australia at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval for the championship match.
