Van Buuren strikes as South Africa U19 take the lead
A four wicket haul by right arm leg spinner Mitchell Van Buuren paved the way for the visiting South Africa U19’s to record a 16 run win in the first of the three Youth ODI encounter played at the P. Sara Stadium yesterday helping them to take a 1-0 lead.
The Sri Lanka U19 chasing a modest target of 186 runs for victory was making smooth progress with two down for 77 runs in the 18th before Van Buuren struck giving his side the opportunity to make a comeback.
In the Sri Lanka U19’s run chase apart from an opening wicket stand of 43 runs between Vishwa Chathuranga and Pathum Nissanka there was no other significant contributions.
Only Vishad Randika and Ashen Bandra joined in for a 31 run stand, but that was insufficient.
Van Buuren was supported by right arm pacies skipper Wiaan Mulder and William Sendin who both had two wickets each.
The morning session of proceedings saw South Africa U19 skipper Wiaan Mulder electing to take first lease of the wicket and openers Ricardo Vasconcelos and Jesse Christensen giving them a sedate start putting on 39 runs before they were separated with the dismissal of Christensen.
Vasconcelos joined by Raynard van Tonder denied the Sri Lanka U19 bowlers success for a considerable period and in the process the pair put up the 50 runs stand for the second wicket but they were able to add only another two runs before left arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama made the breakthrough.
From there on the two left arm spinners Damitha Silva and Jayawickrama took things under control. The South Africa U19 batting failed to come into terms with the pair who made them struggle for their runs.
The visitors lost three quick wickets for the addition of only 19 runs with Damitha and Praveen taking a wicket each while the visiting team skipper Mulder ran himself out as they slid to 110 for 5 in the 29th over.
They were on the road to recovery with the two middle order batsmen Mitchell Van Buuren and Eathan Bosch making stiff resistance. With the pair having added a valuable 43 runs spinner Damitha dealt a double blow when he dismissed both the batsmen in his last over to have them struggling on 175 for 8.
Later the Junior Proteas did not last long as Praveen finished off the tail grabbing the last two wickets as the visitors ended their innings making a score of 185.
The left arm spin pair Praveen and Damitha ended with impressive bowling returns as they shared four wickets.
The two sides’ will play their second Youth ODI on July 11 at the NCC ground.