The New Zealand Under-19s begin their World Cup campaign against Bangladesh in Colombo after two warm up matches in Sri Lanka.
The youngsters fell to consecutive defeats to strong South African and West Indian sides as they acclimatised to the sub-continental conditions.
An unbeaten 90 from Richard Levi, who added 128 for the fifth wicket with super sub Grant Makoena (34), rescued South Africa from 58-4 to earn victory after New Zealand had set 187.
Batting first, the side all made good starts but captain Marc Ellison top scored with 35.
A day later, the West Indies batsmen struck 310-8 after opener Richard Ramdeen’s 70 and a swashbuckling 59 from 48 balls from Gajanand Singh.
Jason Donnelly, a super sub for Hamish Bennett after just 19 overs, emerged with impressive figures of 3-33.
In response, Todd Astle made 56 but Nelon Pascal and Sunil Narine took three wickets each as the Caribbean outfit defended their total.
