England complete NatWest Series with 3-wicket win at Hove

England's Under 19 cricketers confirmed their superiority over Sri Lanka in the NatWest Series with a 3 wicket win in the third match at Hove, having won the two previous encounters in Cardiff.

Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first on a pitch of no great pace. No doubt part of the strategy was to make England bat under lights, but the fact that Sri Lanka were bowled out in under 44 overs meant that most of the reply was made in daylight.

The Sri Lankan batsmen contributed to their own downfall with some injudicious shots and a needless run out. The bowling was not necessarily of the highest order, with too many wides, but the fielding was out of the top drawer. Captain Ian Bell set the tone with a fine low catch at slip off Kabir Ali to dismiss Ian Daniels in the third over.

Runs were scored with great alacrity, but so too did the wickets fall so that half the side had gone by the eleventh over with 53 on the board. Muthumudalige Pushpakumara was joined by Kaushalya Weeraratne and the pair put on 58 for the sixth wicket before the captain holed out to deep mid-wicket. Pushpakumara went on to 48, but the remaining wickets fell cheaply with James Dalrymple picking up 3 wickets, as did opening bowler Mark Davies.

England too lost an early wicket when Michael Carberry was bowled by Akalanka Ganegama with only 3 on the board, but once again it was Bell and Nicky Peng who laid the foundations for England's victory. They put on 76 together before they were parted.

From 79 for 1 in the 20th over, wickets were lost to make the match more exciting than it should have been. Bell was sixth out after a well-constructed 52 from 90 balls with 3 fours, and went Trego went England were 142 for 7 in the 41st over. It was Kabir Ali with 28 and Carl Gazzard (10) who took the side home with an over to spare to win the series three-nil.