Richmond College, Galle duo, Dhananjaya Lakshan and Kamindu Mendis produced stellar performances for Sri Lanka U19s as they defeated Ireland U19s by 7 wickets in their opening game in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2018 in Whangarei on Sunday.
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The match was reduced to a 48-over affair after rain delayed play by an hour. The Irish boys who opted to bat first scored 206 for 8 with ambidextrous spinner Mendis taking 3 wickets. In reply, opening batsman Dhananjaya Lakshan stroked a fine hundred along with Mendis who scored an unbeaten 74.
Early on, the Irish openers got off to a stunning start adding 73 for the first wicket before Mendis brought himself onto the attack and dismissed Mark Donegan for 36. Jamie Grassi held the Ireland batting with a fine 117-ball 75.
Mark Topping managed just a 22-ball 8 before running himself out and was soon joined back in the pavilion by captain Harry Tector (6), again run-out after poor communication.
Mendis scalped two more wickets as Ireland batsmen fell cheaply looking for quick runs towards the end. He ended with 35 for 3 from his quota of 10 overs while seamer Nipun Malinga and Jehan Daniel picked up a wicket each.
In reply, Hasitha Boyagoda (00) and Nipun Dhananjaya (01) fell to the pace of Aaron Crawley while number four batsman Krishan Sanjula made just 17 before Max Neville restricted the Lankans to 51 for 3.
Left-handed duo, Lakshan and Mendis got together in the 12th over and constructed a match-winning, unbeaten 157-run stand for the fourth wicket to help Sri Lanka start their campaign on a winning note.
Lakshan smashed 8 fours and 1 six during his 120-ball unbeaten 101 while Mendis slammed 6 fours during his 73-ball 74 as the Irishmen had no answers to some exceptional, classy batting by the two Galle boys as they reached the target with more than 10 overs to spare.
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Lakshan became the fourth Sri Lankan to score a 100 in a Youth World Cup match and was named player of the match.
Ireland U19 – 206/8 (48) Jamie Grassi 75, Mark Donegan 36, Joshua Little 36, Kamindu Mendis 3/35.
Sri Lanka U19 – 208/3 (37.3) Dhananjaya Lakshan 101*, Kamindu Mendis 74*, Aaron Crawley 2/26.
