Last tournament's finalists India and Australia suffered defeats in the first round of warm-up matches of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup UAE 2014 on Monday.
Sri Lanka opener Sadeera Samarawickrama hit an attractive 82 and Priyamal Perera scored an unbeaten 50 to inspire their side to five wickets victory over defending champion India at Zayed Cricket Stadium, while Ryan Burl hit a fluent 60 as Zimbabwe defeated last event's runner-up Australia by three wickets at Abu Dhabi Oval 1.
In the other matches of the day, two-time former champion Pakistan romped to a comfortable 10-wicket victory over the host United Arab Emirates at The Sevens, England overcame Scotland by 153 runs at ICC Academy 1, two-time losing finalist South Africa beat Namibia by five wickets at Abu Dhabi Oval 2, 1998 finalist New Zealand outgunned Canada by five wickets at Sharjah Cricket Stadium and 2004 finalist West Indies made short work of Afghanistan by nine wickets at ICC Academy 2.
Bangladesh, which has won the Plate Championship in 1998, 2004 and 2010, defeated Papua New Guinea by 165 runs. Bangladesh's Yasir Ali was the star of his team when he scored a fine 64 that came off 67 balls in a knock that included two fours and two sixes.
In the India-Sri Lanka match, the defending champion threw away a half-century opening wicket start to slump from 53-0 to 209 all out in 45.5 overs. All the top order batsmen got off to good starts but couldn't convert these into big scores as No.8 batsman Deepak Hooda finished as the top scorer with 39.
Sri Lanka, in its chase, achieved victory with seven balls to spare after opener Samarawickrama and Hashan Dumindu (48) put on 125 runs for the first wicket. Priyamal Perera then hit nine fours in an unbeaten 62-ball 50 to provide Sri Lanka a huge confidence-boosting victory.
On Wednesday, 12 February, eight more warm-up matches will be played while the first round matches of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 will start on Friday 14 February.
- Sri Lanka beat India by 5 wickets
India 209, all out in 45.5 overs (Deepak Hooda 39, Shreyas Iyer 31; Binura Fernando 4-42)
Sri Lanka 212-5, 48.5 overs (Sadeera Samarawickrama 82, Priyamal Perera 50*) - Zimbabwe beat Australia by 3 wickets
Australia 195, 46.1 overs (Jaron Morgan 36; Deven Bell 3-38)
Zimbabwe 196-7, 48.3 overs (Ryan Burl 60) - Bangladesh beat Papua New Guinea by 165 runs
Bangladesh 281-9, 50 overs (Yasir Ali 64; Riley Hekure 3-50)
Papua New Guinea 116, 40.3 overs (Gaudi Toka 35) - West Indies beat Afghanistan by 9 wickets
Afghanistan 84 all out, 39.4 overs (Jerome Jones 3-12, Ray Jordan 3-13)
West Indies 85-1, 18.4 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 46*) - New Zealand beat Canada by 5 wickets
Canada 119 all out, 45.4 overs (Nikhil Dutta 40)
New Zealand 120-5, 35.5 overs (Ken McClure 59*) - England beat Scotland by 153 runs
England 281-4, 50 overs (Ben Duckett 92, Ryan Higgins 60, Jonathan Tattersall 48, Dominic Sibley 41)
Scotland 128, 39.4 overs (Luke Wood 2-18, Josh Shaw 2-24) - South Africa beat Namibia by 5 wickets
Namibia 204-8, 50 overs (Malan Kruger 58, Xander Pitchers 52, Jano Coetzee 48)
South Africa 205-5, 47.3 overs (Aiden Markram 53 retired out, Kirwin Christoffels 30 retired out) - Pakistan beat UAE by 10 wickets
UAE 101, 31.3 overs (Shorye Chopra 36; Zia-ul-Haq 3-15, Irfanullah Shah 3-27)
Pakistan 102-0, 17 overs (Sami Aslam 43*, Inam-ul-Haq 42*)
Wednesday's warm-up fixtures
- Bangladesh v England, Zayed Cricket Stadium
- Afghanistan v Scotland, Abu Dhabi Oval 1
- PNG v Canada, Abu Dhabi Oval 2
- Sri Lanka v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
- India v South Africa, ICC Academy 1
- Australia v Pakistan, ICC Academy 2
- Zimbabwe v UAE, The Sevens 1, Dubai
- New Zealand v West Indies, The Sevens 2