On the last day of the second Youth Men’s Test at Cheltenham, England defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 53 runs to seal a comfortable victory.
The tourists needed to score an additional 78 runs to force their opponents to bat again when they resumed their second innings at 246 for 7, knowing that they would not be able to save the match. At the College Ground, the Young Lions needed just 10.5 overs to complete the task of taking three more wickets to win the series and the match.
Instead of using the new ball, captain Hamza Shaikh relied on his spinners, Charlie Barnard and Farhan Ahmed, to complete the task without using pace.
As Sri Lanka was knocked for 271, Nottinghamshire off-spinner Ahmed was particularly efficient, with remarkable figures of 4 for 59 from 26.5 overs with seven maidens.
Vihas Thewmika gave up a simple return catch to Lancashire slow left armer Barnard in the fourth over of the morning after the team mustered a strong resistance the night before to force the match into a fourth day. Barnard finished with stats of 2 for 55 from 21 overs.
Manuja Chanthuka arrived and vanished fast, as the home team was closing in on an inside-the-distance triumph when he was dismissed for one by Ahmed. In his subsequent over, Ahmed put an end to it all by putting the last man, Sheshan Marasinghe, on the front foot.
Driven to make a statement following their frustrating draw in a rain-affected first Test match at Wormsley, the Young Lions dominated every facet of this match to establish their dominance and seal a well-earned one-nil series victory at one of the most prestigious festivals in English cricket.
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