Sri Lanka beat Windies by 3 wickets to win Plate Championship

Openers Hasitha Boyagoda and Dhananjaya Lakshan featured in a double-century stand as Sri Lanka defeated the Windies by three wickets in the Plate championship final of the ICC U-19 World Cup here today.
The 213-run stand between Boyagoda (116, 124b, 17x4,1x6) and Lakshan (98, 119b, 12x4, 1x6) put Sri Lanka in a position of strength to overtake the Windies' total of 254-5 but a batting collapse made things difficult for the 2000 finalists and they ultimately won with only two balls to spare.
In the Super League, Bangladesh defeated England by five wickets in the play-off semifinal for fifth place to set up a match with South Africa on Wednesday in Queenstown.

The winner of Wednesday's match will finish fifth in the tournament. England will next play New Zealand to decide the seventh place a day earlier on January 30 in Queenstown.
The Windies scored a competitive 254 for five after being put in to bat.
Alick Athanaze continued his fine form with an unbeaten run-a-ball 110 (5x4, 2x6) which enabled him to finish the tournament with 418 runs, the second most by any Windies player at a single U-19 Cricket World Cup after Donovan Pagon (421 in 2002).

Brad Barnes (37 not out) and Bharat Yadram (31) were the other main contributors to the total for the 2016 Super League champion side.

Sri Lanka seemed to be coasting home after a fine opening stand between Boyagoda and Lakshan that had taken the team to within 37 runs of victory with 12 overs to go.
But some quick wickets including a couple of run-out dismissals, saw the team lose seven wickets for only 31 runs before scraping through to 255 for seven in 49.4 overs.
Bangladesh were impressive in their five-wicket win over England with Afif Hossain's all-round effort of three for 18 and 71 not out proving the difference between the two sides.
With fast bowlers Hasan Mahmud (three for 29) and Qazi Onik (two for 46) also doing their bit, England were bowled out for 216 in 47.2 overs.

Opener Liam Banks (74) and captain Harry Brook (66) were the main scorers for England, who had beaten Bangladesh by seven wickets in the preliminary league.
Bangladesh scored 220 for five in 47.3 overs with Afif (71, 84b, 7x4, 1x6) and captain Saif Hassan (59, 89b, 4x4) figuring in a 66-run partnership for the fourth wicket and then Afif adding 51 for the next with Mohammad Rakib (28 not out, 42b, 2x4).
Meanwhile, Afghanistan will try to further their success story in this tournament when they take on three-time champions Australia in the first semi-final of the Super League at the Hagley Oval tomorrow.

Asian champions Afghanistan, whose Mujeeb Zadran-led spin attack has been the focus during the tournament, topped their group ahead of Pakistan and then defeated hosts New Zealand by a massive 202 runs in the quarterfinal to set up this clash with Australia.
Afghanistan coach Andy Moles: "Australia are the favourites but probably not quite as big favourites as they were a few days ago. We have a very good team and we have come here to win, but we are not arrogant to say we will win.
"We will win if we do very, very well in the key moments. At under-19 level the biggest challenge is to get consistency. If we have a good day, we intend to upset their applecart."

Australia themselves had a dramatic entry into the semi- finals and have also had a spin bowler in the spotlight. The 1998, 2002 and 2010 champions qualified for the Super League as the second team behind India and then defended a low total of 127 as they bowled out England for 96 with leg-spinner Lloyd Pope returning a tournament record haul of eight for 35.
The winners of this match will await the victors of the second semi-final between India and Pakistan to be played at the same venue on Tuesday.
The final will be played at the Bay Oval in Tauranga on February 3.