Minnows fail to make an impact

Sri Lanka U-19s 236 for 9 (Pathirana 62, Priyanjan 46, Tissara 41*, Bhattarai 4-42) beat Nepal U-19s 175 (Chhetri 39, Pathirana 3-31) by 61 runs
Scorecard

A fine all-round performance by Sachith Pathirana, who scored an aggressive 62 to lead a middle-order rescue act and then claimed three wickets, took Sri Lanka to a 61-run win in their Group C match against Nepal at the Penang Sports Club.

Nepal initially made a fist of their 237-run chase, and things looked rosy for them when openers Mahesh Chhetri and Anil Mandal (25) added 61 runs for the first wicket in little more than 15 overs. But Pathirana provided a double breakthrough with his left-arm spin when first he got rid of Mandal and then held on to a caught-and-bowled chance from Gyanendra Malla. Things got worse for Nepal when Chettri was stumped by Dinesh Chandimal, who would go on to effect three more such dismissals.

Paras Khadka (25) and Akash Gupta (24) then stabilised the innings with a 46-run fifth-wicket stand but, once they were separated, Nepal were effectively out of the contest.

Earlier, Sri Lanka, who chose to bat, got off to a poor start when Amrit Bhattarai, the left-arm medium-pacer, took the first four wickets with 58 runs on the board. But captain Ashan Priyanjan and Perera added 72 runs for the fifth wicket to get the innings back on track.

Priyanjan, who was the more sedate of the two, fell on 46 when he was stumped off left-arm spinner Rahul Kumar. Pathirana, meanwhile, took the attack to the Nepali bowlers, bringing up his half-century in the process. Nepal struck back once he was dismissed by Kumar, and medium-pacer Sagar Khadka struck twice in succession. But Tissara Perera, batting at No. 9, blasted an unbeaten 41 off only 27 balls, aided by two hits to the fence and two beyond it, to push Sri Lanka beyond 200.

Bangladesh U-19s 260 for 8 (Nasir 84, Islam 69*, Ashraful 51) beat Bermuda U-19s 82 (Trott 20, Shuvo 3-9, Hasan 3-12) by 178 runs
Scorecard

Nasir Hossain top-scored with 84 off 94 balls, while Ashraful Hossain and Ashiqul Islam helped themselves to half-centuries as Bangladesh made 260, which proved way beyond the reach of Bermuda.

Bangladesh, who were put in, lost opener Mithun Ali early on but his partner, Hossain, steadied the innings with a patient 81-ball 51, and added 62 runs for the second wicket with Nadimuddin (11). Bangladesh then lost three middle-order wickets for 20 runs as they collapsed to 130 for 5 before their innings received a boost from Nasir, the-16-year-old. He took apart the Bermudan bowlers, blasting 84 off 95 balls, aided by eight fours and a six. He found a perfect ally in Islam, the wicketkeeper, and the two added 99 runs for the sixth wicket. Bangladesh then managed to pick up 31 runs off their last 19 deliveries, Islam scoring a bulk of those to remain unbeaten on a run-a-ball 69.

The pressure was on Bermuda as they began their chase when Terryn Fay was trapped by Dolar Mahmud; four balls later, Greg Marbury was dismissed in the same manner by Rubel Hossain. Captain Rodney Trott, whose 20 was Bermuda's highest score, and Chris Douglas, who scored a painstaking 8 off 31 balls, took the score beyond fifty by the 12th over as the Bangladesh seamers sprayed the ball around to increase the wide count. Bermuda then lost their last eight wickets for the addition of only 30 runs, the procession of wickets starting when Douglas was put out of his misery by Subashis Roy. They found it especially difficult to handle the left-arm spin of the Bangladesh captain, Suhrawadi Shuvo, who took 3 for 9 in his seven overs. Offspinner Mahmudul Hassan also claimed three wickets, while the final score could have been even worse had it not been for the 32 extras conceded by the Bangladesh bowlers.

New Zealand U-19s 221 for 8 (Anderson 82, Masvaure 3-37) beat Zimbabwe U-19s 123 (Landman 51, Southee 5-11) by 98 runs
Scorecard

New Zealand cruised to a 98-run win over Zimbabwe at the Johor Cricket Academy Stadium thanks to Corey Anderson. who changed the complexion of their innings with a 95-ball 82 batting at No.6, and Tim Southee's lead role with the ball in taking 5 for 11.

Southee, a recent entrant to New Zealand's national squad, got into the act with a double-strike in the third over of Zimbabwe's chase of 222; he induced an edge from Tendai Mashonganyika to wicketkeeper Michael Guptill-Bunce, and three balls later bowled Justin Gaisford. Southee had his third scalp when he trapped Zimbabwe's captain, Prince Masvaure, for 2. Zimbabwe plunged to 14 for 5 by the 15th over when Hughes Dinembira's 42-ball vigil for his four runs was ended by medium-pacer Anurag Verma, before Tinashe Chimbambo was caught behind off Greg Morgan. Some late-order hitting by Solomon Mire (31) and Daniel Landman, who scored 51 off 72 balls, only delayed the inevitable, which was brought about when Southee cleaned up the tail-enders to grab his five-for as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 123.

New Zealand were off to a disastrous start after they chose to bat when they lost openers George Worker and Guptill-Bunce to Kyle Jarvis and Njabulo Ncube respectively. They crawled along at a snails pace, and by the time Harry Boam was dismissed in the 15th over, they had only managed to score 39 runs. Captain Kane Williamson, who stuck around for 44 balls for his 13, and Fraser Colson, both fell victim to the left-arm medium-pace of Masvaure as New Zealand slipped further to 69 for 5. But Zimbabwe's joy was short-lived when Anderson chose the attacking route for his rescue-act, blitzing four fours and as many sixes, and adding 82 runs for the sixth wicket with Morgan (27). Anderson was the last man out, and his innings, for which he received the Man-of-the-Match award, proved to be vital to New Zealand's cause.

Meanwhile, in the other match of the day, South Africa Under-19s managed to defeat West Indies Under-19s by a three-wicket margin at the Kinrara Oval.