Sri Lanka's Business Management School (BMS) and Northwest University (NWU) of South Africa here on Friday defeated their respective opponents to set up a clash in the final of the Red Bull Campus World Cricket meet.
A disciplined all-round effort helped defending champion BMS beat Australia's University of Sydney (UoS) by three runs while NWU trounced University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) by seven wickets at the Galle International cricket stadium here.
In the first semi-final match, after restricting ULAB for 121/7, South Africa's NWU batsmen thrashed the bowlers all around the park and chased down the target in 14.4 overs.
NWU's opener Wihan Lubbe (32 off 15 balls) and Man-of-the-Match Janneman Malan (69 not out) were the major contributors to the cause.
Earlier, winning the toss and opting to bat, ULAB only managed to score 121 runs, with Avishek Mitra (27) scoring the most. Apart from him, no other batsman performed as per the expectations.
For South Africa's NWU, Jovuan van Wyngaardt was the most successful bower, scalping two wickets for 23 runs.
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In the second semi-final, chasing a healthy 164, Australia's UoS failed to give the fight as Hayden Kerr (54 off 27 balls) was the lone fighter among the batsmen.
The UoS began the chase on a brilliant note as openers Kerr and N. Craze forged a 63-run partnership in the first six overs after which Australia's innings derailed. The middle order failed to step up to the occasion as a result of which half of the team was in the pavilion at 105.
Lower-middle order batsmen J. Kershaw (34 not out) and W. Lawrence (20) offered some resistance to take UoS close to the target before finishing at 160 in their 20 overs.
For the hosts, Ranitha Minon Liyanarachchi scalped two wickets.
--IANS
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