ST JOHN’S, Antigua – West Indies Under-19s held their collective nerve to edge Sri Lanka Under-19s 4-3 in a rollercoaster seven-match Youth ODI series in Antigua, signalling a positive start to their preparation for next year’s ICC Under-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
The young Caribbean side, led by head coach Rohan Nurse and captain Joshua Dorne, showed great resilience after early setbacks, but outstanding individual performances and smart batting partnerships helped them win the series with a game to spare, before Sri Lanka salvaged pride with a victory in the final fixture.
Head coach Nurse hailed the character shown by his young players throughout the series.
“I was very impressed by the resilience shown by the team. To have that resilience to perform, especially when the games got tight towards the back end of the innings and the way that they stayed calm in those situations, I thought that was quite pleasing. Those are qualities that aren’t necessarily easy to embed into a team.”
Nurse was especially pleased with some individual performances especially in the batting order.
“We had the performances of the captain, Joshua Dorne, leading from the front, both on and off the field.”
“His calming presence started to rub off on others, especially guys like Jonathan Van Lange who operated in the middle to lower order, and even Aidan Racha who made telling contributions. We were also able to have some impactful performances from Shaquan Belle, who was able to win us two games with his powerful stroke play.”
The tone was set in the opener at Coolidge when West Indies snatched a 12-run win from the brink of defeat.
Sri Lanka were cruising at 225-5 in pursuit of 257, but Jakeem Pollard’s late burst (3-34) sparked a collapse and the visitors lost their last five wickets for just 19 runs.
Earlier, Jonathan van Lange’s composed 83 anchored the hosts’ batting innings.
Sri Lanka hit back two days later, edging a low-scoring encounter by one wicket.
Chasing 202, the visitors won thanks to Sethmika Seneviratne’s late cameo of an unbeaten 20. Captain Joshua Dorne’s 82 had been the feature of the West Indies’ innings.
The tourists took control in the third match, a low-scoring affair, as spinners Vigneshwaran Akash (4-19) and Chamika Heenatigala (4-33) dismissed the hosts for 138.
Opening batter Viran Chamuditha’s unbeaten 64 steered Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket victory and a 2-1 series lead.
A rain-affected fourth ODI saw West Indies chase down a revised target and level the series 2-2. Shaquan Belle’s unbeaten 41, which followed his bowling performance of 4-35, guided them to a two-wicket win on DLS.
In the fifth game at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Van Lange and Aadian Racha added 28 for the ninth wicket to claim a two-wicket win and a 3-2 advantage.
Captain Dorne produced his defining innings of the series in the sixth ODI. With the side struggling at 125-5 chasing 288, he struck a brilliant 95, his third half-century of the series, in a 115-run sixth-wicket stand with van Lange (50) to secure a memorable three-wicket win and a 4-2 series win.
Sri Lanka dominated the seventh and final game and cruised to a 130-run DLS victory after reducing the hosts to just 62 all out in another rain-affected battle.
Dorne was named MVP after his series-high 302 runs across the seven matches at an average of 43.14 with his highest score of 95.
Dorne also took the most catches by a fielder with nine. Sri Lanka’s Kavija Gamage, who scored the series’ only century, contributed a total of 269 runs at an average of 44.83 for his team’s cause. Vigneshwaran Akash led all wicket takers with 20. Jakeem Pollard was West Indies’ best bowler with 8 scalps.
