On the first day of the first Youth Men’s Test at Wormsley, England had a profitable morning until Sri Lanka’s middle order fought back. After the Young Lions had taken four wickets in the first hour of play thanks to their skilful use of bowler-friendly conditions, the tourists concluded a rain-shortened day at 177 for 5.
Before Rocky Flintoff ran out Sharujan Shanmuganathan, a disastrous mix-up left both batsmen at the non-strikers’ end. New-ball pair Alex French and Naavya Sharma claimed the first three wickets with catches in the slip cordon.
After a second rain delay, Alex Green had Mahith Perera caught behind in the over, but Dinura Kalupahana and Diniru Abeywickramashingha’s unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 74 brought Sri Lanka back into the match.
“Sri Lanka U-19s rally at Wormsley, with Dinura Kalupahana leading from the front.”
After winning the toss, Hamza Shaikh, captain of the England Men U19s for the first time, did not hesitate to put Sri Lanka in to bat due to the low cloud cover and green-tinged pitch.
Shaikh’s choice was promptly validated as Surrey’s towering right-armer French eliminated both of the openers in the first thirty minutes. At second slip, Freddie McCann managed to hold off edges from Sadew Samarasinghe and Pulindu Perera.
In a rare moment of attack from the tourists, Gayana Weerasinghe flicked Sharma over the leg-side rope for six, but the Middlesex man had him in his next over after Noah Thain held a sharp catch to his right at first slip.
Sharma was only added to the team for the weekend, and as Sri Lanka’s morning progressed, he was once more rejoicing with his teammates.
Pushing into the off-side, Shanmuganathan went for a single, which Perera turned down only after he hesitated long enough to tempt his partner to commit. All Flintoff had to do was toss the ball to wicketkeeper Jack Carney, who took out the bails as the batsmen exchanged glaring looks.
When rain forced the players off for over two hours, Sri Lanka was 49 for 4. During a shortened middle session, Perera edged to Carney, giving Leicestershire’s Green the opening wicket of a new spell.
Following another interval, the Sri Lankan batsmen chose to counterattack. With six boundaries in his unbeaten 35 from 41 balls, new batsman Abeywickramasingha took the lead and put more pressure on England’s bowlers.
This gave Kalupahana the opportunity to demonstrate his class as he easily reached his half-century off 98 balls, including a boundary off Green. After that, the captain picked up his pace, hitting Farhan Ahmed over the ropes. When play was eventually stopped due to a third rain delay, the captain was undefeated at 70.
In a nutshell: (stumps day 1)
In a match against England Under 19, Sri Lanka Under 19 won 177/5 in 42.4 overs (Mahith Perera 22, Dinura Kalupahana 70*, Diniru Abeywickremasinghe 35*, A M French 2-56).
