England stunned by Bangladesh in Under-19 World Cup by International Cricket Council

---

Scorecard:	Bangladesh Under-19s v England Under-19s
Event:	ICC Under-19 World Cup 2007/08

---

DateLine: 22nd February 2008

 

A spectacular England collapse handed victory to Bangladesh in the final round of matches in the group stage of the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia, setting up a daunting quarter-final clash for Alex Wakely’s team with India in a match that will be televised live from Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

 

Winning the toss and electing to field first, England reduced Bangladesh to 49-7 and eventually 149 all out as James Harris bowled beautifully for his 5-20. A fine partnership between Sohrawardi Shuvo (56 not out) and Dollar Mahmud (36) saved the blushes of Bangladesh and gave it a glimmer of hope. But despite that late rally, England would still have been confident of knocking off the runs and it started confidently enough, putting on 35 for the first wicket. But after that, wickets fell at regular intervals with an out-of-touch England middle-order – 10-wicket victories in the previous two group games were perhaps partly to blame for that – unable to establish themselves at the crease.

 

Even at 113-4, though, England should have been able to get home but as the wickets fell, panic set in and England ended up 13 runs short. So rather than winning the group and facing Group B runner-up South Africa at Bayuemas Oval, England must face an unbeaten India in front of the ESPN-STAR Sport TV cameras in Kinrara.

 

Meanwhile, Group D topper Bangladesh will take on the junior Proteas, most of whom were present at Kinrara Oval on Friday to make sure India did them a favour and defeat the West Indies. And India duly obliged consigning the boys from the Caribbean to the Plate Championship down in Johor.

 

Captain Virat Kohli (100 off 74 balls) top scored as India posted an excellent total of 265-5 in 50 overs and although the West Indies put in a spirited run chase the Indian bowling strangled the middle-order and ultimately Larry Gomes’ team fell short by 50 runs.

 

Elsewhere, Pakistan made sure that it qualified for the last eight as Group A winner with an 87-run victory over Zimbabwe at MPTI in Johor. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for Iman Wasim’s side as it stumbled to 90-6 having won the toss and electing to bat first.

 

But a fine knock of 76 not out from wicketkeeper Ali Asad managed to bring the defending champion to a respectable, but far from dominant, total of 174 all out and some good bowling by Pakistan ensured Zimbabwe were unable to cause an upset.

 

The Africans were eventually all out for 86 with Muhammad Rameez (3-26) and Ahmad Shahzad (2-9) the pick of the Pakistan bowlers. The reigning champion, which is seeking its third title in a row, will now face Australia in the quarter-finals at Kinrara Oval, Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

 

The reason for that is that Sri Lanka beat Australia in the deciding match of Group C in Penang and will now play runner-up of Group A New Zealand in the quarter-final at Royal Selangor Club, KL, on Monday.

 

Batting first, the Aussies struggled to string together decent partnerships as Sri Lanka mixed up the bowling well, using no fewer than eight bowlers along the way. In the end, Australia limped to 173 all out in the 50th over with Navin Kavikara taking 3-20.

 

In reply, it did not go all Sri Lanka’s way as it slipped to 63-3 but solid knocks, all of 43 interestingly enough, from Dilshan Munaweera, Kusal Perera and Ashan Subasinghe made sure that Sri Lanka got over the line comfortably with five wickets and 12.3 overs to spare.

 

Tomorrow (Saturday) is a rest day as the teams prepare for the latter stages of the competition.

 

With the top eight playing in Kuala Lumpur, the bottom two teams from each group, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, West Indies, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Namibia, Bermuda and Ireland, will play their Plate Championship matches in Johor.

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2008 International Cricket Council)