The winner between Nepal and Sri Lanka will take on the winner of the match between Ireland and Namibia in the next stage. Afghanistan, which defeated Papua New Guinea by four wickets, has already set plate semifinal clash against Scotland, which defeated Zimbabwe by 41 runs on Sunday.[break]
Monday´s match would be the third encounter between Nepal and Sri Lanka in the U-19 World Cup. Sri Lanka had defeated Nepal by nine wickets during the super league round of the 2000 edition of U-19 World Cup. Likewise, Sri Lanka had beaten Nepal by eight wickets in the 2008 edition.
Nepal faced defeats in all three group stage matches of the ongoing tournament. Nepal was humbled by Australia by 212 runs while England crushed Nepal by 127 runs. Nepal was handed a 14-run defeat by Ireland, also an associate nation within the International Cricket Council (ICC). This is only the second defeat of Nepal with an associate nation in the ICC U-19 World Cup. Earlier, Scotland had defeated Nepal by three wickets in the 2004 edition of the tournament.
Test nation Sri Lanka that failed to reach super league round has been targeting plate championship of the tournament. Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka by 25 runs in the group stage. Sri Lanka crushed Namibia by 195 runs in the second match but South Africa stunned it by four.
Australia, South Africa in semifinal
Host Australia and South Africa booked their berths in the semifinals of the U-19 World Cup. Australia defeated Bangladesh by five wickets on Sunday while South Africa pulled off a massive 103-run victory over England. Australia put Bangladesh into batting and bowled it out for 171 runs in 43 overs. Australia met the target in 45.5 overs losing only five wickets as man-of-the-match William Bosisto remained unbeaten with 71 runs off 134 balls.
Likewise, South Africa elected to bat and put up 244 runs in 50 overs losing all the wickets. In reply, England could score only 141 runs. England lost its all wickets in 40.3 overs as man-of-the-match Prenelan Subrayen took four wickets for South Africa.
Sri Lankan envoy for boosting economic ties with Nepal
