McCann's Heroics Lead England U19s to Victory Over Sri Lanka

England 360 for 7 (McCann 174, Thain 66, Kalupahana 5-81) beat Sri Lanka 330 (Perera 64, Weerasinghe 57, Benkenstein 4-77) by 30 runs

A magnificent knock of 174 by Nottinghamshire's Freddie McCann steered England Men U19s to a thrilling 30-run victory against Sri Lanka at Hove, levelling the three-match ODI series at 1-1. In the previous game at Chelmsford, Sri Lanka secured a 65-run win. McCann, starting cautiously, unleashed a flurry of runs in the latter half of his innings, setting a challenging target for Sri Lanka. When Pulindu Perera and Gayana Weerasinghe seemed poised to chase it down, with a 110-run stand in just 14 overs, it was McCann who made a game-changing diving catch to dismiss Weerasinghe (57) off Farhan Ahmed's bowling.

Sri Lanka began their innings on a strong note, being 53 runs ahead of England at the halfway mark. However, their momentum waned as they lost wickets regularly against England’s disciplined bowling. Four overs after Weerasinghe's departure, Perera was trapped lbw by Warwickshire’s Tazeem Ali for 64 off 59 balls, featuring eight fours and a six. Sri Lanka couldn’t find another batsman to take control and were eventually bowled out for 330 in 49.2 overs, with Luc Benkenstein, son of South African cricketer Dale Benkenstein, claiming four wickets.

England’s innings was anchored by a 127-run partnership between McCann and Noah Thain, which frustrated the Sri Lankan fielders. The umpires, Jack Shantry and Nigel Llong, had to intervene, awarding England five penalty runs due to distracting behaviour from the Sri Lankan fielders. England, starting steadily, were 36 when Keshana Fonseka was caught in the slips off Kalupahana’s first over. They reached 50 in the eighth over and 120 for one at the halfway mark, scoring 240 in the latter 25 overs.

During their partnership, Essex’s Thain looked even more commanding than McCann. He reached his fifty off 60 balls by sweeping Paveen Maneesha to long leg for four. Thain eventually fell for 66 from 76 balls, hitting eight fours and a six, pulling Kalupahana to backward square-leg.

McCann, having reached his century from 97 balls with 15 fours, accelerated to finish with 174 off 139 balls, including 22 fours and three sixes. Contributions from Charlie Allison (46 off 43) and Dom Kelly (32 not out off 11 balls with four fours and two sixes) bolstered the total. Rocky Flintoff, son of former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, was bowled leg stump for just three off five balls. Kalupahana was the standout bowler for Sri Lanka, taking five wickets for 81 runs in his ten overs.