Pulindu Perera century helps Sri Lanka Under-19 win tour opener

Pulindu Perera’s century steered Sri Lanka Under-19 to a four-wicket win

Sri Lanka Under-19 cricketers began their six-match tour of England with an emphatic four-wicket win against Young Lions Invitation XI in their only warm-up match played at Loughborough on Tuesday.

Chasing a target of 282, opener Pulindu Perera set Sri Lanka on course to win with a brilliant century – 107 off 85 balls (9 fours, 6 sixes). With Thisara Ekanayake (31), Perera raised an opening stand of 102 off 101 balls. When Perera was out with the total at 200-3, Sri Lanka required to score 82 off the remaining 19 overs.

Skipper Dinura Kalupahana struck 51 off 31 balls (8 fours, 1 six) to help Sri Lanka win with eight overs to spare.

Earlier, Young Lions winning the toss and deciding to bat first posted a challenging score of 281. A feature of their batting was the century stand between Ben Dawkins (93 off 89 balls, 8 fours, 2 sixes) and Thomas Rew (60 off 47 balls, 8 fours, 2 sixes).

Seamer Dumindu Sewmina (3/30) and leg-spinner Praveen Maneesha (4/48) kept the Young Lions run rate in check.

Sri Lanka and England commence a three-match U19 Youth ODI series at Chelmsford on Friday.

Scores: Young Lions Invitation XI 281 (48.1) (Aaryan Sawant 47, Haydon Mustard 22, Ben Dawkins 93, Thomas Rew 60, Dumindu Sewmina 3/30, Praveen Maneesha 4/48)

Sri Lanka (U19) 282-6 (42) (Pulindu Perera 107, Thisara Ekanayake 31, Gayan Weerasinghe 42, Dinura Kalupahana 51, Alex Green 2/43, Nilesh Bandari 2/63)