Sri Lanka U20 National Discussions

[paulc]

desperately unlucky at the end but great tour to finish the regular season.
We'll all be cheering you in the world cup!

[paulc]

Tough World Cup draw - same group as all of the big 3.

[paulc]

Crunched in game 1 unfortunately.
We’ll need to win the remaining 4 to have a chance most likely.

[paulc]

Tough luck Summit and co. At least there was one victory to celebrate.

Running for election again?
Surely it’d worth another go after bringing the team to D1?

[paulc]

It’s a consequence of the year/wk age rule that teams will peak at various times of the season not always at the end. It’s gonna happen now with the seniors with a group hitting 30yrs but at least they fade gradually. At u20 players age out completely.

[Lesvosace]

been a tough one so far

[Angolvagyok]

Very solid win in the first game of the T20 tour today against the USA

Batting first up on Slow/Humid Janaka & Kudavidanage took us to 62/1 off 9 overs, then Anthony and Lucas (21 off 13) chipping in to get us to 135 from our 20.

Initially I thought it might be a little below par but Aladeniya & Casie Chetty restricted them to 14 runs off the first 5 overs for the loss of two wickets. A few expensive overs followed but in the main Schofield and Flindall kept it tight, with wickets falling regularly. Schofield with two important wickets in the 14th and Casie Chetty mopping up the tail at the end.

Men of the match for me are:

Aladeniya (Yellow Comet) - 4-1-8-2
Schofield (Crease Lightning) 4-1-23-4
Janaka (Recently of my own EllaXI but developed by PinkLuco) 37(38)
Kudavidanage (Kent International CC) 41(40)

Having looked at the match ratings it was an important win as we're way behind the other teams in this league, now we go again tomorrow against the Netherlands on Green and, once again, in Humid conditions.

[Angolvagyok]

Another win today against the Netherlands, but can't help feeling we've got away with one, as they didn't seem to have orders set.......

Bowling first on green with humid conditions our 4 Seamers failed to do any damage as they racked up 149. Stand outs were Aladeniya and Berty, with econs of 3.50 and 4.75 respectively, but one wicket between them is not something to write about. I'm beginning to think I might have a habit of going too defensive with my bowling orders, it's something I'll start experimenting with on one of my clubs.

Aponso taking 2 wickets with an econ of 7.75, but Casie Chetty and Irfahan both getting tanked around the park.

So onto what I assumed would be an unsuccessful chase but we managed to get to 88-1 off 12 and keeping up with the NRR, when their Med picked up a couple of wickets and left us needing 41 off the last 4. Kesavan did well to take 11 off the FS in the 17th, then enter the star of the show, a RFM who has bowled a grand total of 48 balls in Youth matches. Kesavan got himself back on strike and took 16 off the over, to leave us needing 14 off the last two, which he and Lucas brought up with ease.

One I feel we've been lucky to win, but I'll take it.

Not really too many nominees for men of the match but I can always find one:

Keasavan (Miss Lanka's Pet Lions) for his 39(22) just when we needed it.

UAE up next on green and humid (again) and my only hope is that their seamers are as broken as ours.

[Angolvagyok]

Apologies for no report yesterday, life & work took over.

Not that I would have had much to sasy, we've been done in both games and are in serious danger of relegating to D3. Wonderful.

Against UAE we only got to 130 from our 20, with Ramanayake (Blue & Gold) hitting 75(59). They chased this down in 19, with only Schofield (Crease Lightning) putting up much resistance with his 4-0-25-3.

Went the other way today and tried bowling first with the hope that our spinners would keep them in check. One of them did, with Flindall (TeddyBearPower) returning figures of 4-0-17-4. Things went south towards the end of the innings with them hitting 41 in the last 4, leaving us 138 to chase. I was surprised that we got within 13, but the bats were always behind the RRR and we all know how that works.

Now we have to play the MR monsters that area Scotland, and if we lose that we're hoping UAE beat the USA. Feel free to tune in tomorrow and imagine how CENSORED off or happy I am at any certain point.