The U19 Super Provincial tournament which was organized by Sri Lanka Cricket as a preparation and selection tournament for the school players targeting the U19 World Cup 2020 in South Africa, was concluded on 23rd July, crowning Team Colombo as champions.
Tournament Hub
- Match 01 – Colombo V Dambulla | Match Report | Photos
- Match 02 – Galle V Kandy | Match Report | Photos
- Match 03 – Colombo V Kandy | Match Report | Photos
- Match 04 – Galle V Dambulla | Match Report | Photos
- Match 05 – Colombo V Galle | Match Report | Photos
- Match 06 – Dambulla V Kandy | Match Report | Photos
- 3rd Place | Play Off – Galle V Kandy | Match Report | Photos
- Final | Colombo V Dambulla | Match Report | Photos
The 4-team tournament was conducted in the round-robin round format, with the top 2 teams contesting for the title, granting each team a total of 4 matches. Team Colombo dominated the whole tournament, remaining unbeaten till the end.
Squads – U19 Super Provincial Tournament
| TEAM | M | W | L | PT |
| Colombo U19 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| Dambulla U19 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Kandy U19 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Galle U19 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Points Table – End of Group Stage
Special Performances
The tournament witnessed a few special individual performances by several players. Here are few of those exceptional efforts from these young guns.
- Kamil Mishara (Team Colombo) – 152 (161b) vs Team Kandy
- Ahan Wickramasinghe (Team Colombo) – 127* (116b) vs Team Dambulla
- Kamil Mishara (Team Colombo) – 120 (114b) vs Team Dambulla
- Navod Paranawithana (Team Galle) – 91 (58b) vs Team Kandy
- Lohan Arosha (Team Kandy) – 5/48 (Including a hat-trick) vs Team Galle
Highlights – U19 Super Provincial Tournament
Highest run-scorers
Team Colombo skipper Kamil Mishara from Royal College stole the spotlight with the bat as he racked up 377 runs at a ridiculous 94.25 average, with two show-stopping centuries. His fellow schoolmate Ahan Wickramasinghe came second in the batting charts, making a strong case for himself to be part of the U19 national team with a century and two half centuries of his own.
The tall all-rounder from St. Anthony’s College Wattala, Avishka Tharindu quietly continued his good form from the Pakistan U19 tour of Sri Lanka. Another one to watch out for is Joes all-rounder Lakshan Gamage who rose to the occasion when his team was in need of a gutsy innings. He ended the tournament as the 6th highest run scorer (150 runs) with 2 half centuries.
Openers from Team Kandy and Team Galle, Chamindu Wickramasinghe (St. Anthony’s College, Kandy) and Navod Paranavithana (Mahinda College, Galle) had decent outings as both of them made 2 half centuries in the tournament. Wickramasinghe who opened the batting and bowling for Team Kandy, claimed 5 wickets, making his presence in the team much more valuable. Paranavithana was the architect of two mouth-watering innings, with his blazing strokeplay making him a perfect option at the top of the batting line-up.
Thaveesha Abhishek and Pawan Ratnayake had decent outings too, making two half centuries each in the middle order.
Read: When SL U19 met Pakistan on their way to SA 2020
Highest Wicket takers
Sandun Mendis (Richmond College) dominated with the ball right throughout the tournament, taking 11 opposition scalps including a 4-fer. Sandun, who is naturally an all-rounder just like his brother (Kamindu Mendis) made his presence felt with the bat too, with a few 20s and 30s in the lower order.
Two left arm orthodox spinners, Dilum Sudeera (Karandeniya Central College) and Rohan Sanjaya (Tissa Madya Maha Vidyalaya, Kalutara) shared 9 wickets each, while off spinner Ashain Daniel (St. Joseph’s College) picked up the same number of wickets. The only seamer who could made the top 10 was Praveen de Silva (Gurukula College, Kelaniya), who impressed everyone with his left arm magic.
It seems there is an abundance of talent when it comes to the left arm orthodox spinners in the U19 setup. 5 of the top 10 wicket takers are left arm orthodox spinners (Rohan Sanjaya, Dilum Sudeera, Sonal Dinusha, Dunith Wellalage, Lohan Arosha).
But this may be a worrying sign as well, to know that there is a dearth of talent in the U19 setup in wrist spinners (a certain addition in limited overs team these days) when the Sri Lanka national team is currently in search of a wrist spinner. Dilmin Ratnayaka and Kavindu Nadeeshan were the only wrist spinners in the top 10.
Overall, this has been an exceptional tournament to discover young talent in Sri Lanka and a great preparation for the Lion cubs ahead of the upcoming U19 Asia Cup which is scheduled to be held in September.
Team of the Tournament
- Kamil Mishara (C)(Wk) (Colombo)
- Navod Paranvithana (Galle)
- Chamindu Wickramasinghe (Kandy)
- Ahan Wickramasinghe (Colombo)
- Pawan Ratnayake (Galle)
- Avishka Tharindu (Kandy)
- Chamindu Wijesinghe (Colombo)
- Lakshan Gamage (Dambulla)
- Sandun Mendis (Galle)
- Dilum Sudeera (Dambulla)
- Praveen de Silva (Colombo)
Do you agree with this Team? Mention yours in the comment section below.
