Dunith Wellalage, the captain of the Sri Lanka cricket team, picked up 5/28 and smashed 52 as Sri Lanka registered a memorable win against three-time champions Australia in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2022.
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The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2022 witnessed a massive shock at St Kitts. Australia, the three-time champions, was humbled by four wickets against Sri Lanka on Monday. Dunith Wellalage, the Sri Lanka Under-19 captain, led from the front with a brilliant all-round display. He picked up 5/28 and smashed 52 off 71 balls as Sri Lanka defeated Australia by four wickets to throw open Group D in the tournament. Apart from Sri Lanka and Australia, West Indies are the other team and their win against Scotland has made it very interesting.
Sri Lanka chose to bowl and Australia was in trouble immediately. Teague Wyllie and Isaac Higgins were sent back cheaply by Treveen Mathew. Campbell Kellaway, on the other hand, was looking in great touch. Australia was jolted when they lost skipper Cooper Connolly for 3. Kellaway and Nivethan Radhakrishnan then stitched a solid stand to push Australia past 100. It was then that Dinuth Wellalage struck.
Kellaway smashed a fifty and looked in good touch. But, Wellalage trapped him LBW for 54 and Australia never recovered. Radhakrishnan was then cleaned up by Wellalage and Australia sunk further when Aidan Cahill went for 0. Tobias Snell, the wicketkeeper, and William Salzmann tried to revive the innings. But, Matheesha Pathirana struck as the partnership was flourishing. Wellalage then picked up five wickets and Australia was bowled out for 175. Apart from Wellalage’s 5/28, Pathirana and Mathew picked up two wickets apiece.
Sri Lanka also started badly in the chase of 176. Shevon Daniel fell to Salzmann for 9 but Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Sadisha Rajapaksa continued to play aggressively. But, Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals. Wickramasinghe, Rajapaksa, and Sakuna Liyanage all fell cheaply as Sri Lanka lost three wickets for nine runs. However, Wellalage then decided to contribute with the bat.
Wellalage then shared a vital partnership with Anjala Bandara. On a wicket that was sluggish, both batsmen got their eye in and decided to make steady progress. Wellallage hit two boundaries off Radhakrishnan and the partnership with Bandara went past fifty. However, Joshua Garner sent back Bandara to send some panic into the Sri Lanka team. But, Wellalage eased the nerves with a six to near his fifty. Ranuda Somarathne then found the boundary on a regular basis to get Sri Lanka closer to the target. Wellalage hit his fifty while Somarathne hit two boundaries of Salzmann.
However, Wellalage was dismissed for 52 as Sri Lanka needed five runs to win. But, Raveen de Silva hit the boundary to seal a memorable win. Sri Lanka’s last match is against the West Indies in St Kitts while Australia will play Scotland.
