Lahiru and Roshane chart Sri Lanka's five wickets win

Fazil Mahmud

26 January, 2007

Malaysia put on a brave front before going down by five wickets against Sri Lanka in the opening match of the HSBC Malaysian Under-19 Invitational tri-series at the Kinrara Oval on Friday.

 It was a result which the young Malaysians, led by skipper Faris Almas-Lee, should not look into with sadness or shame but instead hold their heads high at the end of the day as there was so much excitement provided by the hosts which had the Test-playing nation gripped with nail-biting anxiety.

  Set a target of 150 runs for victory after opener Faris put the wheel of motion in place with 18 runs off 43 balls and Aminudin Ramly's heroic 34 together with wicketkeeper Shafiq Sharif's unbeaten 27, the Sri Lankans received an early jolt when they loss the wicket of opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne for just four runs on the board.

  Dimuth, one of the four players retained in the squad that competed at the 2006 World Cup in Colombo, was run out by wicketkeeper Shafiq after attempting to take a single in the last ball of the first over.

 There was excitement in the Malaysian camp and it grew bigger five overs later when Anwar Arudin had Kushal Perera caught by Shafiq behind the stumps as Sri Lanka were left pondering what went wrong at 2-23.

 Anwar then celebrated his second wicket and Malaysia's third in less than 10 overs, slowly but cheerfully breaking up the solid Sri Lankan batting arsenal. Vice captain Ashan Priyanjan was out caught by Suharril Fetri Shuib  for two runs. The scoreboard now reads 3-44.

  However, Man of the Match Lahiru Thirimanne's aggressive 45 coming off 98 balls in 123 minutes, Roshane Silva's 35, skipper Sachith Pathirana's 27 and Mohamed Feshal (22) saw them through with this morale boosting victory in front of 32 undergraduates from the Sultan Idris Education University in Tanjung Malim, Perak who had travelled 150km into the city to learn about the game.

  "It was a good match. There were some anxious moments for us from the Malaysian bowlers," said Sri Lanka team manager Ashley de Silva. "The players are getting a feel of it. It was just the first match with many more to go."

  Earlier in the day, Malaysia made a wobbling start, losing the wickets of one-down batsman Faiz Mohamed Noor (3) and Norwira Zazmie out duck as Sri Lanka celebrated two quick wickets through medium-pace bowler Tisara Perera (3-25) in 4.3 overs.

  Skipper Faris, however, was in a defiance mood as he cantered the score to 36 before falling to a catch by Tisara off Amal Atapattu for 18 runs.

  It was only trouble for the Malaysians at this point as they searched for some form of miracle  which was indeed answered in the form of Aminudin who stood his ground against the pace attack with an energy sapping 34 which included five boundaries and an equally intelligent performance from wicketkeeper and vice captain Shafiq, unbeaten on 27.

   Malaysian Under-19 team manager Mohammed Iqbal Ali said the defeat did not reflect badly at all on the team's overall performance.

  "Most of these players are having their first go against Test-playing nations like Sri Lanka. I must say we did not bat that well but to go out and bat through the 50 overs is commendable. On the other end, neither did we bowled that well too but to get five Sri Lankan wickets is good for the team."

  Malaysia take on 2006 World Cup semi-finalist England at the Selangor Turf Club on Saturday and play their second match against Sri Lanka at the Kinrara Oval on Monday.  | scorecard |