Bowlers, Rew set up England's Super Sixes victory; Sri Lanka throw open group with win

Thomas Rew's unbeaten 59 off 50 led the charge on an underwhelming target of 137 set by Bangladesh, as England secured a comfortable seven-wicket win in Bulawayo in the Under-19 World Cup's Super Six encounter. The win, and the run rate boosting nature of it, means England have one foot in the semi-final, while Bangladesh are now out of contention.

Rew walked in at 39 for 2, but his generally unflustered demeanour rubbed off on team-mate Ben Mayes, as the pair strung together a stand of 78 off 68. Bangladesh had removed Joseph Moores early courtesy a spectacular take at deep third from Shadhin Islam, before a dangerous innings from Ben Dawkins was cut short when he pulled one straight to deep square for a 29-ball 27. That stand with Rew had been worth 36 off 40.

Both those wickets were accounted for by a fired up Al Fahad, who ended with figures of 2 for 37, but Rew's entry silenced a boisterous and energetic Bangladesh outfit. He employed the sweep liberally, and it was a pair of monstrous slog sweeps off Shadhin signalled England's switching of gears.

Mayes fell with just 20 needed, and Rew, with Caleb Falconer alongside him, made sure there would be no more hiccoughs as they romped home.

The win had been set up by an outstanding bowling and fielding display. Sebastian Morgan had innings best figures of 3 for 28, while Ralphie Albert and Manny Lumsden got two each. There were wickets all round in fact, as Alex Green, Farhan Ahmed and James Minto all got in on the act.

Bangladesh's innings only ever looked promising when skipper Azizul Hakim and Rifat Beg were going strong in 46-run second wicket stand, but once the aggressive Rifat edged behind a beautifully flighted off break from Farhan Ahmed for a 36-ball 31, Bangladesh's innings began to slow down.

The highest stand after that was just 18, as England kept things tight and kept chipping away, to eventually bowl Bangladesh out for 136 in 38.1 overs.

An all-round display from Sri Lanka saw them come away with a vital four-wicket win against Afghanistan in Windhoek, and with it, threw Group 1 of the Super Sixes wide open. Sri Lanka now join Afghanistan and West Indies on four points, in what is a three-way battle for second place. Australia lead the group on six points.

Chasing 194 to win, Senuja Wekunagoda's 43 off 79 headlined the innings, but there were equally vital contributions from Dimantha Mahavithana (37), Kavija Gamage (25), Duluth Sigera (30), and finally, Player of the Match Chamika Heenatigala, who remained unbeaten on 22 off 42 to see the game through to its conclusion.

Afghanistan picked up wickets at regular intervals, but as is crucial in chasing low totals, Sri Lanka ensured they strung partnerships together right throughout the chase. There were stands of 55, 29 and 40 for the second, third and fourth wickets, but the key contribution came during Sigera and Heenatigala's 52-run partnership off 74 deliveries.

The pair came together after their side had slumped to 130 for 5, facing the loss of two quick wickets, but they steadied the chase. By the time Sigera fell, the equation had been brought down to just 12 needed, which was duly knocked off, albeit with a few nerves in tow.

Earlier, Afghanistan had been authors of their own demise, with no less than three run outs across their innings. The first brought to an end to a burgeoning second-wicket stand between Osman Sadat and Faisal Shinozada, while the second removed the set Azizullah Miakhil, who had done all the hard work to set himself up for the death overs during a 58-ball 43.

It was Miakhil's stand with Sadat - who struck 61 off 107 - that revived the Afghan innings, after Sri Lanka had removed four of their top order by the 23rd over. Sri Lanka had also kept a tight lid on the scoring during this early period, and it meant Afghanistan scored just 64 runs in the first 22 overs.

The 76-run partnership between Miakhil and Sadat brought Afghanistan back into the game, albeit slowly, as they struggled to contend with Sri Lanka's spinners. When both fell in the space of three overs at the start of the death overs, it undid much of the rebuild.

Afghanistan ended up scoring 53 runs in the final 10 overs, as they were bowled out off the penultimate delivery of the innings, but it meant Sri Lanka were always favourites, provided they could muster up a measured chase.

Sixteen-year-old Adnit Jhamb's 116* off 93 balls helped USA secure a seven-wicket win over Scotland in their 16th Place Play-off at the Under-19 World Cup in Harare.

Set a target of 237, Jhamb's rapid century helped his side reach the total in just 38.4 overs. Coming in at the fall of the first wicket, Jhamb first joined Amrinder Gill for a stand of 47. The game's defining phase then arrived after Gill fell, bowled by Manu Saraswat.

Alongside skipper Utkarsh Srivastava, Jhamb turned on the afterburners as the pair rollicked along at above seven runs an over during their 129-run third-wicket stand. The tireless Ollie Jones eventually broke the stand, breaching Srivastava's defences for a run-a-ball 52, but by then, the chase was as good as done with just 22 runs left to get.

A pair of boundaries from Jhamb in Jones' final over sealed the comprehensive win, one that had been earlier set up by Ritvik Appidi's four-wicket haul. Appidi was ably assisted by Rayaan Taj, who picked up figures of 3 for 37.

When Theo Robinson was going strong during his 83 off 101 deliveries, Scotland might have been eyeing a total closer to 300. An opening stand between Robinson and Olly Pillinger of 57 was followed by a third-wicket partnership of 89 between Robinson and Saraswat. But in the span of five deliveries, the entire complexion of the innings shifted.

Having been hit for six just a ball prior, Taj took a good return catch to remove the dangerous Robinson. Then, Max Chaplin was run-out for nought off the very next delivery. Taj's over ended without further incident for Scotland, but off the very first delivery of the next over, Appidi had Saraswat out caught.

Scotland had just lost three wickets for no run, and from then on, their innings ended up limping to a finish, with only a rapid 39-run stand between Jake Woodhouse and skipper Thomas Knight managing to offer any fight. Fittingly, the excellent Appidi ended up dismissing them both on the way to figures of 4 for 54.