Worcestershire Academy player Zen Malik made a promising debut for England Under-19s who went down by 108 runs to their Sri Lankan counterparts in the first match of the Royal London One-Day Series at Wormsley.
It was a proud moment for Zen when he received his cap from former England captain Andrew Strauss before the start of play.
He went in at number four after Sri Lanka had scored 257-7 from their 50 overs with England 35-2.
Eighteen-year-old Zen featured in a third wicket partnership of 61 in 14 overs with Under-19s captain Max Holden.
England reached 96-2 in the 24th over at one stage but then four wickets fell for just 10 runs in quick succession.
Zen was fifth out at 102 for 32 from 60 balls with three boundaries, chipping a catch to mid wicket.
His Worcestershire Academy team-mate Josh Dell was then dismissed for a single – caught and bowled – after batting at number six.
The Under-19s were eventually dismissed for 149 in 40.3 overs after the last eight wickets went down for 53 – seven of them to the three Sri Lankan spinners.
England have two more youth ODIS in which to try and turn the series around – at Chelmsford on Saturday and then a day-night match at Canterbury on Sky Sports next Tuesday.
A third Worcestershire player in spinner Ben Twohig was 12th man.
Academy opener Ollie Westbury, England's player of the series in the 'Test' series with Sri Lanka, was not selected for the youth ODIs and was back playing for Worcestershire Seconds today.
