Sri Lanka ‘A’ sealed their place in the Semi-finals with a thumping win over Oman ‘A’, which was played today (18th July) as a day-night game at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
After having won the toss, Oman ‘A’ Skipper Aqib Ilyas put Sri Lanka ‘A’ to bat first in a must win situation for the home side.
Avishka Fernando and Lasith Croospulle walked in as regular openers for Sri Lanka ‘A’ and put together a half-century stand for the opening wicket. Ayaan Khan drew the first blood with his left-arm orthodox, castling Fernando for 25 at the score of 55 in the 11th over.
Three days ago, Minod Bhanuka nearly took his team over the line against the Afghans, but the latter was stumped off Jay Odedra for only 9 runs today. Ayaan Khan struck for the second time to get rid of Croospulle. The former scored 42 off 49 balls with 7 fours & 1 six.
The Oman bowlers did really well in that phase against the islanders from the 11th over to 19th over, picking up three crucial wickets, conceding 45 runs.
When Sri Lanka were in a bit of trouble at 84/3, Pasindu Sooriyabandara and Sahan Arachchige stitched together in an excellent 110-run stand for the 4th wicket. During that partnership, Sooriyabandara went on to register his 7th List ‘A’ half-century and the first one in this tournament.
Oman Skipper Aqib Ilyas was the one to break that partnership, castling Sooriyabandara for 60. His knock came off 75 deliveries and consisted of 5 boundaries. Lahiru Samarakoon’s stay at the crease did not last long as Odedra removed him for just 1.
Soon after, Ilyas got the better of Arachchige, the other batter, who fell 2 runs short of his fifty. His useful knock came off 63 balls with a single boundary. The hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Ashen Bandara became Ilyas’ third victim, reducing Sri Lanka ‘A’ to 214/7 in 44.5 overs.
Due to some useful cameos from Skipper Dunith Wellalage and Chamika Karunaratne, Sri Lanka ‘A’ managed to post 259/8 in their 50 overs. Karunaratne stroked a 14-ball 20 including 2 sixes, while the skipper remained unbeaten on 21 facing 22 balls with a boundary.
With the wicket of Karunaratne, Oman skipper Ilyas was the star with the ball as he finished with 4/58 in his full quota of overs. Apart from him, Ayaan Khan also bowled exceptionally well with figures of 2/39 in 10 overs while Jay Odedra also scalped a couple of wickets.
When beginning the chase, Sri Lanka ‘A’ had to restrict Oman to 233 or below to reach the Semi-finals.
Skipper Wellalage started proceedings with the bowl and was able to provide the first breakthrough in the very first over, castling Jatinder Singh for note. Pramod Madushan removed Oman ‘A’ Skipper Aqib Ilyas for just 1.
The Sri Lankan bowlers continued to demolish the opponents’ run chase and rather ordinary batting display from the Oman batters, which saw them being blown away for only 42 runs in 17.1 overs. This meant that the hosts made it into the Semi-finals after topping the group ‘A’ points table with a massive 217-run victory.
For Oman, only Kashyap Prajapati (18) and Suraj Kumar (10) were able to reach double figures.
Chamika Karunaratne was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka ‘A’ with an astonishing spell of 3/3 in 2 overs. Apart from him, the rest of the bowlers too did some damage as Pramod Madushan, Skipper Dunith Wellalage and Lahiru Samarakoon grabbed two wickets apiece, while Sahan Arachchige also scalped one.
Earlier in the evening, Bangladesh ‘A’ beat Afghanistan ‘A’ with a margin of 21 runs to book their place in the Semi-finals.
The final two group games of the ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023 will take place tomorrow, with Nepal taking on UAE ‘A’ at P. Sara Oval Cricket Grounds, while arch rivals India ‘A’ and Pakistan ‘A’ are set to face each other in a day-night clash at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avishka Fernando | b Ayaan Khan | 25 | 38 | 3 | 0 | 65.79 |
| Lasith Croospulle | c Shoaib Khan b Ayaan Khan | 43 | 49 | 7 | 1 | 87.76 |
| Minod Bhanuka | st Suraj Kumar b Jay Odedra | 9 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 45.00 |
| Pasindu Sooriyabandara | b Aqib Ilyas | 60 | 75 | 5 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Sahan Arachchige | st Suraj Kumar b Aqib Ilyas | 48 | 63 | 1 | 0 | 76.19 |
| Lahiru Samarakoon | b Jay Odedra | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Ashen Bandara | c Kashyap Prajapati b Aqib Ilyas | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 110.00 |
| Dunith Wellalage | not out | 21 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 95.45 |
| Chamika Karunarathne | c Jay Odedra b Aqib Ilyas | 20 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 142.86 |
| Dushan Hemantha | not out | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Extras | 16 (b 1 , lb 7 , nb 0, w 8, pen 0) |
| Total | 259/8 (50 Overs, RR: 5.18) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaleemullah | 6 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 4.67 | |
| Wasim Ali | 10 | 0 | 52 | 0 | 5.20 | |
| Ayaan Khan | 10 | 0 | 39 | 2 | 3.90 | |
| Jay Odedra | 9 | 0 | 44 | 2 | 4.89 | |
| Samay Shrivastava | 5 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Aqib Ilyas | 10 | 0 | 58 | 4 | 5.80 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kashyap Prajapati | c Minod Bhanuka b Lahiru Samarakoon | 18 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 72.00 |
| Jatinder Singh | b Dunith Wellalage | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Aqib Ilyas | c Minod Bhanuka b Pramod Madushan | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Ayaan Khan | c Lasith Croospulle b Pramod Madushan | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 7.69 |
| Shoaib Khan | b Lahiru Samarakoon | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Wasim Ali | c Dunith Wellalage b Sahan Arachchige | 6 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 31.58 |
| Suraj Kumar | c Minod Bhanuka b Chamika Karunarathne | 10 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Rafiullah | c Sahan Arachchige b Chamika Karunarathne | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Samay Shrivastava | lbw b Chamika Karunarathne | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Jay Odedra | not out | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Kaleemullah | lbw b Dunith Wellalage | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Extras | 1 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 42/10 (17.1 Overs, RR: 2.45) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunith Wellalage | 3.1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 3.23 | |
| Pramod Madushan | 5 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1.20 | |
| Lahiru Samarakoon | 5 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 4.20 | |
| Sahan Arachchige | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1.00 | |
| Chamika Karunarathne | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.50 | |
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