Afghanistan, Scotland stay in contention for ninth place

An unbeaten century from Papua New Guinea captain Christopher Kent went in vain as Afghanistan's lower middle order held their nerve to chase down 240 in the ninth-place play-off quarter-final of the Under-19 World Cup. PNG chose to bat and were in some trouble at 138 for 5 in 35 overs, before Nigel Boge joined Kent at the crease. The pair added 101 runs in the final 15, finishing unbeaten on 105 (Kent) and 55 (Boge). In the chase, PNG struck with regularity to leave Afghanistan 59 for 3 and then 159 for 6 in the 40th. If PNG sniffed a win, Nos. 7 and 8, Mohibullah Paak and Afsar Khan comprehensively denied them; they knocked off the remaining 81 runs briskly - with five sixes between them - to carry Afghanistan home with four wickets and an over to spare.

A team performance from Scotland helped them past Zimbabwe in their ninth-place play-off quarter-final in Brisbane. Zimbabwe asked Scotland to bat, and all but one of their players who got the chance to bat got into double figures. No. 4 Nicholas Farrar, with 58, was the top scorer, as Scotland finished with 241 for 7. Their bowlers then put in a similar shared effort, in bowling out Zimbabwe out for 200. Zimbabwe too, had only one half-century in the innings - Ryan Burl's 52 - but, unlike Scotland, several of their top order failed, being dismissed in single digits as they fell to a 41-run defeat.

The results mean Afghanistan and Scotland progress to the semi-finals of the ninth-place play-off, where they will take on the winners of Monday's Ireland-Namibia and Nepal-Sri Lanka games. PNG and Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will now be in contention for 13th place.