Mathews hands Sri Lanka victory
Angelo Mathews smashed 70 not out to help Sri Lanka Under-19s beat England
Cricinfo staff
02-Dec-2005
Sri Lanka 225 (Mathews 70*) defeated England 212 (Woodman 49, Wright 40*) by 13 runs
Scorecard
Just like the full England side, the under-19s are finding life on the subcontinent tough this winter. After being whitewashed in the five-match series against a BCB High Perfomance Side, their poor start to the triangular tournament got poorer with a second defeat, this time to Sri Lanka.
Angelo Mathews was the star for Sri Lanka, smashing 70 not out from 74 balls to boost their total to 225 after Dimuth Karunaratne and Sameera de Zoysa put on 54 for the first wicket to set a solid platform.
Rory Hamilton-Brown fared the best for England's bowlers, taking 3 for 44 and playing a part in causing a mid-innings wobble and give Sri Lanka the jitters at 156 for 8. But Mathews stood firm to help lift the score with two fruitful stands with Muthumudalige Pushpakumara and Rajeeva Weerasinghe which yielded 69 runs.
England lost early wickets which set them on the backfoot from the off. Varun Chopra stood firm to add a quick 34 from as many balls, but when he fell to Hans Fernando and Woodman went for 40, the momentum fell away from the innings (83 for 3). There was no way back for England and when they lost three quick wickets for six runs late on - Weerasinghe struck twice and there was a run out - the writing was on the wall (180 for 8).
They folded not long after, with Ben Wright left stranded on 40 not out, as Sri Lanka recorded victory by 13 runs.