A 151-run fourth-wicket partnership between Ed Barnard and Ben Duckett powered 1998 champions England to a 213-run victory over hosts United Arab Emirates on the opening day of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Abu Dhabi on Friday. In other matches of the day, the West Indies let South Africa off the hook as the two-time runners-up recovered to win by 94 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, while Sri Lanka scored a comfortable 49-run victory over New Zealand at Sharjah Cricket Stadium and Zimbabwe completed a six-wicket victory over Canada at Abu Dhabi Oval 1.
India captain Virat Kohli said he expected his bowlers to defend 321 but Sri Lanka batted exceptionally well to take the game away from the defending champions in the ICC Champions Trophy in London, on Thursday.
Sri Lanka suffered a stunning batting collapse as they suffered a crushing 226-run defeat in the first Test against West Indies in Port of Spain.
But Pant took the game away from the Lankans by going after the bowling as soon as he walked to the crease, bringing up his fifty with seven fours and two sixes.
The Sri Lankan cricket team, led by veteran pacer Lasith Malinga, arrived in Guwahati on Thursday for the three-match T20 series against India amid tight security after the city witnessed widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The Sri Lankan team headed straight to the team hotel amid a thick security cover. The members of the Indian team are expected to arrive in batches on Friday for the series opener on Sunday.
Images from the ICC World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, in New Delhi, on Monday.
IMAGES from the T20 World Cup match played between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc picked up his second five-wicket haul in the match to lead Australia to a comprehensive 366-run victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka and a 2-0 series win.
South Africa need five wickets on Friday to secure victory in the first Test after Sri Lanka provided dogged resistance and were 240 for five at stumps on the fourth day at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth.
Mathews has taken 253 balls on his way to what he hopes will be a 10th Test century and first in over a year
A series clean sweep in sight, the Indian team is unlikely to tinker with its batting line-up tough skipper Rohit Sharma could be tempted to look at some of his bowling options during the final ODI against Sri Lanka, in Thiruvananthapuram, on Sunday.
With just one win, Sri Lanka are currently at the sixth spot with four points and will have to win rest of their four matches to stay in contention for the semi-final.
India's young batsmen produced a brilliant collective effort to pile up a mammoth first innings score of 503 for seven against Sri Lanka in the opening 'Youth Test' match in Dambulla, on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka have not played a match at the World Cup since June 4, forced to split points with Bangladesh and Pakistan following two washed out games.
For all those who are likely to get a game, there will be just one target -- to make most of their chances as some of them might not get too many with just about 16 months left for the 50-overs World Cup.
Images from the third and final T20 International between India and Sri Lanka.
Images from the Asia Cup T20 match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday.
Tim Southee's prophecy before the start of the first Test against Sri Lanka came true on the opening day of the match as he took his eighth five-wicket haul at the Basin Reserve on Saturday.
There was disaster for the visitors when captain Joe Root (1), who scored a superb 228 in the first innings, was run out by a direct his from wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella to leave England teetering at 14 for three.
IMAGES from the Asia Cup Super 4s match played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Dubai on Friday.
Seamer Nuwan Kulasekara picked up four wickets to help Sri Lanka register a comfortable 70-run win in the third and final one-day international against Bangladesh on Saturday and level the series at 1-1.
Captain Eoin Morgan smashed his second half-century in two games and Adil Rashid took four wickets to help England crush Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the rain-marred third One-Day International on Wednesday.
IMAGES from the World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka played at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Thursday
Chasing 268 to go 1-0 up in the two-Test series, Karunaratne's 161-run opening stand with Lahiru Thirimanne (64) set the tone for a successful chase at the Galle International Stadium.
Sri Lanka's Kaushal Silva roared back into form with a century in the final Test against Australia on Tuesday, boosting the hosts' hopes of a 3-0 sweep against the world number one team at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo.
Sri Lanka need to win their final two games, and hope for favourable outcomes in England and Pakistan's next fixtures.
South Africa bowled poorly in the first hour, but still managed to reduce the visitors to 54 for three as Sri Lanka gave their wickets away with injudicious stroke-play.
With 794 points, pacer Jasprit Bumrah was the top-ranked Indian bowler at sixth place, while Kohli was the top-ranked batsmen.
Sri Lanka's openers shared a fluent century stand to lead their side to 162 for one in reply to England's 416 on the second day of the third and final Test at Lord's on Friday.
The young pace bowling unit will look to pick up pieces from the hammering they suffered in the second T20 against Sri Lanka in the series-deciding third and final match in Rajkot on Saturday.
Gill will not like to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors while aiming to cement his place in the T20I side after making a reputation for himself in the longer versions.
Hardik Pandya will be expected to begin his full-time T20 captaincy tenure on a bold note as the Indian team prepares to start its life beyond Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
Images from the second One-Day International at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said an inspirational net session with the legendary Kumar Sangakkara played a key role.
South Africa remained on course for victory at the close at Kingsmead on Friday.
Sri Lanka all-rounder and former skipper Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi next week with a calf injury, but the uncapped Sadeera Samarawickrama, Roshen Silva and Lahiru Gamage are in the squad.
Zimbabwe were seven wickets away from their maiden Test win over Sri Lanka on Monday after setting the hosts a target of 388 in their one-off match at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
Dean Elgar's century and a quick-fire unbeaten 68 from Quinton de Kock lifted South Africa to 297 for six on the opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Newlands on Monday.
Sri Lanka pace bowler Lasith Malinga ripped through the England batting line-up with four wickets as the former champions handed the favourites a 20-run defeat in a low-scoring World Cup match.
Sri Lanka ended the day at the score of 64/3, still trailing the hosts by 127 runs.
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