Vihas Thewmika showed more disciplined bowling to claim another 5-wicket haul as the Sri Lanka U19s took the early advantage of the 2nd Youth Test against the West Indies U19s on the opening day at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium in Dambulla.
After winning the toss, West Indies U19s Captain Nathan Sealy decided to bat first. Stephan Pascal and Steve Wedderburn commenced the innings and added 57 runs for the first wicket. Vihas Thewmika continued from where he left off in the first game to dismiss Wedderburn for 24.
Soon after, Joshua Dorne was run out for 3 before Thewmika trapped Pascal for 28 as the Windies were reduced to 66/3. Their middle order and lower order really struggled to make any contributions except for Jordan Johnson, as they began to lose wickets for the visitors at regular intervals.
The centurion from the first game, Johnson, played in attacking mode, accumulating 52 runs off 49 balls before being dismissed as the last batsman of the innings. Once again, Thewmika claimed 5/43, leading the attack to bundle out the visitors for 127. The leg spinner Malsha Tharupathi gave good support and finished with 3/16.
Following that, Pulindu Perera and Sineth Jayawardene walked in as the openers for the islanders. However, Skipper Jayawardene did not trouble the scores as Deshawn James sent him back in the 4th over.
Ravishan Nethsara joined in-form Perera in the middle and they together revived the innings, putting a half-century stand for the second wicket. The opener scored 41 in 47 balls before being run out in the 16th over. Nethsara was involved in another half-century stand with Rusanda Gamage, taking Sri Lanka to the lead.
Nethara made 43, while Gamage played a brutal knock of 58 in 52 deliveries as both of them got out in the space of 13 balls. Dinura kalupahana (23*) and Sharujan Shanmuganathan (21*) remained unbeaten at the crease when the Umpires called for stumps on day 1. The islanders lead by 64 runs with 6 wickets in hand.
