Bangladesh U19 fight back to level series
The visiting Bangladesh U19 team fought back with vengeance to level the five match ODI series against host Sri Lanka U19’s with a convincing 60 runs win in the fourth ODI encounter played at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.
Duvindu Tillekeratne in action
The Bangladesh young tigers who came into the game needing to pull off a victory to stay alive in the series succeeded in fulfilling their aim when they restricted hosts Sri Lanka U19’s chasing a target of 237 to a score of 176.
The Sri Lanka U19 innings did not last the full 50 overs as they were bowled out with four overs remaining. In their run chase of 237 the Lankans fell into deep trouble as they lost their top four batsmen with the score on 30 in the 12th over.
At almost the halfway stage of the innings they were struggling on 77 for 5 before they made a recovery through a valuable 54 runs stand for the sixth wicket between Malinga Amarasinghe and Vishad Randika who made a top score of 50.
The separation of the pair saw the Sri Lanka U19 falling back again as none of the late order batsmen was able to make any impression which saw them being bowled out for 176.
Earlier in the day Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Zakir Hasan cracked half tons after Bangladesh skipper Mehedy Hasan won the toss and elected to take first lease of the wicket and openers Saif Hassan and Joyraz Shiek giving them a sedate of 48 runs.
Nazmul who came into the crease associated in three brief partnerships first of 30 runs for the second wicket with Saif, 23 runs with skipper Mehedy for the third wicket and 39 runs for the fourth wicket with Zakir Hasan before he was dismissed having made a 50 with four boundaries.
But even then Bangladesh was struggling on 140 for 4 in the 35th over. They were propelled by a valuable fifth wicket partnership between Zakir and Shahanur Rahman which yielded 66 runs that ended with Zakir’s dismissal having made a 66 ball knock of 50 with two sixes.
The late order Bangladesh batsmen failed to make any impression as they lost four quick wickets from the four overs of batting left for the addition of 30 runs.
The two teams will play the fifth and final deciding ODI match today at SSC grounds after which they will play two three day matches with the first from January 28 to 30 at Rangiri Dambulla Stadium and the second match from February 2 to 4 at the Pallekele Stadium.
| Scoreboard Bangladesh U19 innings |