Guyana (West Indies), Jan 11 (IANS): Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates and Scotland recorded impressive wins as the warm-up matches for the 2022 ICC Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup continued in the West Indies on Tuesday (IST).
In Guyana, Sri Lanka notched a 128-run win over Ireland and Scotland triumphed by 107 runs over Uganda, while the biggest win of the day came in St Kitts for UAE, as they defeated Papua New Guinea by 250 -run.
The World Cup starts on January 14.
Despite overnight rain in Guyana shortening the match between Sri Lanka and Ireland to 43 overs per side, Shevon Daniel helped lead the Sri Lankans to an impressive 128-run victory. Ireland won the toss and elected to bowl but opener Daniel attacked from the start as he scored 75 from 72 balls.
Opening partner Chamidu Wickramasinghe being run out for five and No.3 Sakuna Liyanage being trapped LBW by pick of the Irish bowlers Nathan McGuire (2/40) couldn't slow Daniel, who retired not out with the score at 122 for two.
The middle order, comprising Sadisha Rajapaksa (22), Pawan Pathiraja (25) and Ranuda Somarathne (33) pushed the Sri Lanka total to 233 for seven from 43 overs.
In response, the Ireland top order failed to build a foundation with Wickramasinghe clean bowling both opener Liam Doherty and captain Tim Tector to end with figures of two for seven from four overs before Wanuja Sahan (3/5) picked up the mantle to cheaply dismiss Philippus le Roux, Scott MacBeth and McGuire.
UAE impressed with both bat and ball as they recorded a 250-run victory over Papua New Guinea in Basseterre. UAE opener Kai Smith played a brilliant innings of 145 off 139 balls. He plundered 19 fours and a six as he built three big partnerships with his top-order teammates, starting with an opening stand of 72 alongside Shival Bawa, before Bawa was caught by Malcolm Aporo off the bowling of John Kariko for 23.
Smith finally perished for 145 with just 13 balls remaining in the innings and the score on 298 before UAE took their final total up to 321 for five from 50 overs. Their bowlers then capitalised on the mammoth target as Papua New Guinea were reduced to 22 for four.
PNG opener Peter Karoho (14 from 18) and No.6 Christopher Kilapat (27 off 40) were the only batters to reach double figures as Aayan Khan's 3/10 helped skittle them for just 71 from 28 overs and seal a 250-run triumph.
Scotland signalled their intention to make some noise in West Indies with a 107-run warm-up win over Uganda. Batting first, they posted 219 for nine from their 50 overs, with opener Charlie Tear steering the innings as he made 50.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka U-19 233/7 in 43 overs (Shevon Daniel 75 retired not out, Ranuda Somarathne 33; Nathan McGuire 2/40, Daniel Forkin 1/21) bt Ireland 104 in 31.4 overs (Joshua Cox 45 not out; Wanuja Sahan 3/5, Chamidu Wickramasinghe 2/7) by 128 runs.
UAE U-19 321/5 in 50 overs (Kai Smith 145, Dhruv Parashar 52, Punya Mehra 41) bt PNG 71 all out in 28 overs (Aayan Khan 3/10, Adihya Shetty 2/10, Nilansh Keswani 2/16) by 250 runs.
Scotland U-19 219/9 in 50 overs (Charlie Tear 50, Jack Jarvis 33; Edwin Nuwagaba 3/29, Juma Miyaji 2/30) bt Uganda 112 in 31.2 overs (Oliver Davidson 3/14, Jamie Cairns 3/15) by 107 runs.