Viran Chamuditha’s record-breaking 192, well supported by Dimantha Mahanvithana’s hundred, set up Sri Lanka to begin their campaign with a 203-run win over Japan in the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup 2026 on Saturday (17th January) in Windhoek.
Japan had the opportunity to get off to a dream start after asking Sri Lanka to bat first. Off the very first delivery of the game, Dimantha Mahanvithana hit it straight to backward point, but fielder Charles Hinze put it down off the bowling of Kai Wall. They had to pay for it big time, as it took 43.5 overs to break the opening stand.
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It was a marathon partnership for Sri Lanka, with Viran Chamuditha being the aggressor. The left-handed batter took the attack right from the start, striking well over a run-a-ball. He first reached his half-century in just 33 balls before converting it into a 75-ball maiden hundred at this level – just the second in this edition after Steven Hogan, who achieved the feat yesterday for the defending champions Australia against Ireland. The two openers lifted their side to 169/0 at the halfway mark of the innings. Mahanvithana played second fiddle while Chamuditha kept the scoreboard ticking. Mahanvithana got to his fifty as runs began to flow between the 20th and 30th overs, smashing 90 runs with both providing further acceleration.
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Mahanvithana went on to register his hundred while extending their partnership closer to an unimaginable 300-run mark with 10 overs remaining. While Chamuditha was eyeing a massive knock, the two young openers managed to break the record for the highest-ever partnership for any wicket in tournament history, surpassing the previous best of 303 set by Dan Lawrence and Jack Burnham for England against Fiji in 2016.
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The run-out of Mahanvithana brought an end to what was an extraordinary opening stand for Sri Lanka. The right-handed batter was dismissed for 115 off 125 balls, which included 11 boundaries. Two balls later, Chamuditha’s fantastic innings was cut short when he dragged one onto his stumps and walked back with a hard-to-reach record of the highest-ever individual score, going past fellow countryman Hasitha Boyagoda’s 191 against Kenya in 2018. The southpaw struck 26 fours and a six in his 143-ball outing but unfortunately fell just short of what would have been the maiden double hundred in ICC U19 World Cup history.
Then skipper Vimath Dinsara provided the finishing touches with an unbeaten 44 off just 24 balls as Sri Lanka U19 posted a massive 387 for 4 in their 50 overs – achieving their second-highest total in World Cup history. It was a tough outing for the Japanese outfit with the ball, with Timothy Moore being the only wicket-taker, bagging three scalps.
Sethmika Seneviratne provided a perfect start with a wicket off the second delivery of the Japan innings, but Nihar Parmar and Hugo Kelly added 55 runs for the second wicket. The man in the spotlight, Chamuditha, broke that stand before Rasitha Nimsara struck in the very next over.
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Kelly then shared two more half-century stands and went on to bring up his fifty. Batting patiently, he got closer to the three-figure mark but lost his partners along the way. Batting at No. 3, Kelly showed plenty of character and grit under pressure while struggling between the wickets, and in the very last over of the game, he reached a memorable hundred for Japan at this level.
Courtesy of his innings, Japan U19 batted out the entire 50 overs and finished on 184 for 8, which was still a commendable effort after their performances in the two warm-up games, even though the target was well beyond their reach. As a result, Sri Lanka U19 earned a significant boost to their net run rate and moved to the top of the points table in Group A.
Sri Lanka will face Ireland on the 19th before taking on the current holders of the trophy, Australia, on the 23rd. All ICC Men’s U19 World Cup matches can be watched LIVE & EXCLUSIVELY on Dialog Television – the official broadcasting partner in Sri Lanka – through all ThePapare channels as well as on ThePapare.com and the Dialog ViU+ App.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimantha Mahavithana | run out (Taylor Waugh) | 115 | 125 | 11 | 0 | 92.00 |
| Viran Chamuditha | b Timothy Moore | 192 | 143 | 26 | 1 | 134.27 |
| Dulnith Sigera | b Timothy Moore | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Vimath Dinsara | not out | 44 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 183.33 |
| Kavija Gamage | b Timothy Moore | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Chamika Heenatigala | not out | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 25 (b 2 , lb 1 , nb 3, w 19, pen 0) |
| Total | 387/4 (50 Overs, RR: 7.74) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kai Wall | 3 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Charlie Hara-Hinze | 7 | 0 | 71 | 0 | 10.14 | |
| Kazuma Kato-Stafford (c) | 10 | 0 | 89 | 0 | 8.90 | |
| Nikhil Pol | 8 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 6.25 | |
| Nihar Parmar | 7 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 7.14 | |
| Hugo Kelly | 9 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 5.56 | |
| Timothy Moore | 6 | 0 | 43 | 3 | 7.17 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikhil Pol | lbw b Sethmika Seneviratne | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Nihar Parmar | c Vimath Dinsara b Viran Chamuditha | 23 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 58.97 |
| Hugo Kelly | not out | 101 | 162 | 6 | 0 | 62.35 |
| Charlie Hara-Hinze | b Rasith Nimsara | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Taylor Waugh | c Aadham Hilmy b Jeewantha Sriram | 18 | 34 | 2 | 0 | 52.94 |
| Kento Dobell | c Vimath Dinsara b Chamika Heenatigala | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Kazuma Kato-Stafford (c) | run out (Dimantha Mahavithana) | 19 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 61.29 |
| Timothy Moore | run out (Chamika Heenatigala) | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chihaya Sekine | b Vigneshwaran Akash | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Gabriel Hara-Hinze | not out | 9 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Extras | 13 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 1, w 8, pen 0) |
| Total | 184/8 (50 Overs, RR: 3.68) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sethmika Seneviratne | 3 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Jeewantha Sriram | 10 | 0 | 53 | 1 | 5.30 | |
| Viran Chamuditha | 9 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 1.89 | |
| Rasith Nimsara | 6 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 3.50 | |
| Vigneshwaran Akash | 10 | 0 | 42 | 1 | 4.20 | |
| Dulnith Sigera | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3.00 | |
| Chamika Heenatigala | 6 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 2.67 | |
| Kavija Gamage | 4 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 4.00 | |
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