England U19 defeat Sri Lanka at Canterbury to draw series

Matthew Dunn and David Payne produced devastating bowling spells to help England to a 51 run victory (D/L method) over Sri Lanka at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, which meant the ODI series finished level at 2-2.

England, without the rested Kent player; Adam Ball (pictured), won the toss and chose to bat first. Opener Jack Manuel (63) was the pick of the batsmen but once he was out with the score on 117-5 only captain Paul Best (28*) was able to stick around and England were bowled out for 184 in the 49th over.

Opening bowlers Dunn and Payne combined superbly and by the ninth over Sri Lanka were in trouble at 28-4. With very few runs on offer, the tourists lost their fifth wicket in the 21st over with only 43 runs on the board. A downpour threatened to bring an early finish to the final game of the series but the sides returned to the field with Sri Lanka set a revised target of 177 for victory from 41 overs. A 39 run partnership between Denuwan Rajakaruna (28) and Akshu Fernando (23) caused a few worrying moments but once they were removed England coasted to a comfortable victory bowling Sri Lanka out for 125. It was fitting that Dunn took the last wicket to finish with figures of 3-15 from 6.1 overs while Payne took 4-40 from his eight overs.

England U19 captain Paul Best was delighted with the result: "It was great to win the final match and level the one day series. The result was a fair reflection of the strength of the two teams and it was fantastic for England players ending their U19s career to finish on a high."

England U19 v Sri Lanka U19 results

Test series – drawn 1-1
Northampton: Sri Lanka U19 won by 19 runs
Scarborough: England U19 won by 6 wickets

Twenty20 series – drawn 1-1
Emirates Durham ICG: Sri Lanka U19 won by 9 wickets
Emirates Durham ICG: England U19 won by 46 runs

ODI series – Series drawn 2-2
Fenner’s: England U19 won by 3 wickets
Arundel: Sri Lanka U19 won by 5 wickets
Arundel: No result
Canterbury: Sri Lanka U19 won by 11 runs
Canterbury: England U19 won by 51 runs (D/L method)

Picture:Getty Images