Sri Lanka defeat South Africa to dump WI out of U19 World Cup

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CMC):

West Indies were officially eliminated from semifinal contention at the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup after Sri Lanka defeated South Africa in their Super Six, Group 1 encounter on Thursday.

The Windies’ only hopes of advancing to the final four hinged on both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan suffering heavy defeats in their final matches, after they ended the Super Six phase on four points.

However, led by a knock of 117 from opener Viran Chamuditha, Sri Lanka reached 265 for five in 46 overs, easily overhauling South Africa’s total of 261 for seven at the Queens Sports Club.

Despite the result, Australia and Afghanistan advanced to the semifinals from Group 1 after the latter thumped Ireland by 191 runs yesterday.

Faisal Khan scored an impressive 163, while Mahboob Khan made 89, to lead Afghanistan to a formidable 315 for seven in their 50 overs at the Harare Sports Club.

Ireland were then bundled out for 124 in 40.4 overs, boosting Afghanistan’s net run rate (NRR).

While both Afghanistan and Sri Lanka ended on six points, the former qualified with a superior NRR of +1.725 compared to Sri Lanka’s -0.113.