Sri Lanka captain Dunith Wellalage finished as the top wicket-taker in the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2022 that ended on Saturday.

The left-arm spinner took 17 wickets at an average of 13.58 and had two five-fors against Scotland (5/27) and against Australia (5/28) in the six matches he played in the tournament.

England’s left-arm seamer Joshua Boyden and Awais Ali of Pakistan had the second highest number of wickets with 15 each. 

Apart from his bowling Wellalage also excelled with the bat being Sri Lanka’s top run-getter with 264 runs (avg. 44) inclusive of one century and one 50. The next highest run-getter was Sadisha Rajapaksa with 129 runs (avg. 21.50).

“The only outstanding player obviously is Dunith Wellalage, he has been exceptional,” said Sri Lanka U19 head coach Avishka Gunawardene.

“There are a lot of guys who showed promise in this team but to me you need to go and perform to get recognition. I can’t recommend anyone if he is not going to go out there and perform. You need to put runs and wickets on the board to be recommended otherwise it is not fair. 

“Only Wellalage has shown that he is good. I am also impressed with the off-spinner Trevin Matthews. Throughout the last four months he has been one of the performers who has been consistent with the ball.” (ST)

We deserved to be in semi-finals, says U19 head coach Gunawardene