England suffer more misery

Sri Lanka 288 for 8 (Karunaratne 75, Fernando 70) beat England 286 (Chopra 98, Woodman 79*) by two wickets
Scorecard

England at last salvaged some pride in the Under-19s triangular tournament ... but still couldn't manage a win as Sri Lanka edged home with two balls to spare in a high-scoring affair at Savar. England approached this match knowing that they had only their self-respect at stake - and they did themselves proud, racking up 286 with Varun Chopra just missing out on a century. He scored 98 from 101 balls. But it was a day for near-misses for England as Sri Lanka crept home in the final over with two wickets left.

When Chopra and Greg Wood put on 109 for the first wicket, and then Robert Woodman made an unbeaten 79 it looked likely that, at long last, England had a good chance of recording their first win on tour. Sri Lanka's opener Sameera de Zoysa fell early for 2 although a third-wicket stand of 100 between Dimuth Karunaratne, who made 75, and Angelo Mathews, who made 31, set their side on the path to victory.

It was touch-and-go in the closing stages as the momentum swung back and forth between the teams. Sri Lanka lost wickets in clumps, twice losing two wickets for one run, as they edged closer to their target. Rory Hamilton-Brown gave England hope, bagging a haul of 4 for 36, to sit well with Huw Waters' 3 for 49.

But Charith Fernando and Prabuddha Perera clung on to take them across the line in a thrilling climax to the match. It was a tough workout for Sri Lanka who will know that even stronger tests lie ahead - in the shape of a final with the unbeaten hosts Bangladesh.