U-19 World Cup 2026: Sri Lanka stays alive in race to semifinals; South Africa knocked out
Sri Lanka Under-19 kept its hopes alive for a spot in the semifinal with a five-wicket win and knocking out South Africa in the Super Six Group 1 fixture at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
With the win, Sri Lanka moves to the second spot behind Australia with three wins out of four. Meanwhile South Africa lost all its Super Six games.
Sri Lanka’s hopes are now on Ireland U-19 to beat Afghanistan U-19 on Friday. Afghanistan has a better Net Run Rate (NRR) than Sri Lanka, and a win would guarantee its qualification for the final four spots.
On Thursday though, Sri Lanka did everything right albeit winning the toss. South Africa opted to bat and got off to a splendid start thanks to a 96-run opening stand between Jorich Van Schalkwyk and Adnaan Lagadien.
While Lagadien fell after scoring 46, Schalkwyk went on to score 116 off 130 balls.
However, after the first wicket, Sri Lanka kept taking wickets at regular intervals with leg spinner Vigneshwaran Akash picking four wickets in his 10 overs. South Africa finished at 261 for seven.
In reply, opener Viran Chamuditha scored a 94-ball 110 and got support from the rest of the lineup as Sri Lanka completed the chase with four overs to spare.
Chamuditha added 143 in just 130 deliveries with Senuja Wekunagoda for the second wicket to push South Africa out of the game before the middle order finished the game and kept its hopes alive.
Brief scores
South Africa U-19 261/7 (Jorich Van Schalkwyk 116, Adnaan Lagadien 46, Paul James 37, Vigneshwaran Akash 4/46) lost to Sri Lanka U-19 265/5 in 46 overs (Viran Chamuditha 110, Senuja Wekunagoda 48, Vimath Dinsara 32).
Published on Jan 29, 2026
