Report

England eye fifth place, wins for Nepal, PNG and Afghanistan

A round-up of the 5th, 9th and 13th place play-off matches that took place in the Under-19 World Cup on August 21

ESPNcricinfo staff
21-Aug-2012
England's bowlers led by Reece Topley, restricted Bangladesh to 217 for 7, before their batsmen overcame a middle-order stutter to complete a four-wicket win in the 5th place play-off semi-final at Townsville.
Bangladesh's batting effort was anchored by opener Litton Das, who made a century. Das and captain Anamul Haque (56) put on 113 for the second wicket and at 122 for 1, Bangladesh looked set for a big score. However Topley ran through the middle order as Bangladesh lost five wickets for 25 runs and slumped from 187 for 2 to 212 for 7. England's chase followed a similar pattern to the Bangladesh innings: at 90 for 1, with Sam Wood (46) and Ben Foakes (47) looking set at the crease, they looked to have the chase well under control. However a quick flurry of wickets meant 90 for 1 soon became 158 for 6 and England's chase looked in trouble. However, Adam Ball and Aneesh Kapil stayed steady and their unbroken 60-run stand for the seventh wicket carried England home with 10 balls remaining.
Pradeep Airee narrowly missed out on becoming Nepal's first centurion of the tournament, but he did enough to set up victory over Namibia in their 13th place play-off semi-final at the Peter Burge Oval in Brisbane. Airee finished unbeaten on 98 from 76 deliveries as Nepal put together a total of 219 for 7 having chosen to bat, and the chase did not begin well for Namibia.
They were 22 for 2 in the ninth over and although half-centuries to the captain Stephan Baard (56) and Zhivago Groenewald (54) helped steady the ship, once they departed it was all but over for Namibia. Bhuvan Karki, the Nepal left-arm spinner, picked up 5 for 21, the equal second-best figures of the tournament, and Namibia were dismissed for 180, handing Nepal a 39-run victory.
It was a proud day for Papua New Guinea at the WEP Harris Oval in Brisbane, where they closed out a 12-run victory over Zimbabwe in the other 13th place play-off semi-final. It was their first win of the tournament and was a major turnaround after Zimbabwe beat them by 104 runs ten days ago. The win was set up by half-centuries to Charles Amini (63) and Lega Siaka (50), as PNG were dismissed for 235 from the last ball of their 50th over.
The Zimbabwean chased appeared to be well and truly on track as Kieran Geyle (42) and the captain Luke Masasire (68) put on a 108-run opening stand, but then things began to crumble for Zimbabwe. Kabua Vagi Morea collected three wickets in quick succession and Zimbabwe's middle order struggled. Still, they remained favourites with 37 needed from six overs with four wickets in hand, but a pair of run-outs and another wicket hurt them, and the tenth wicket fell from the first ball of the 50th over, with 13 runs still required for victory.
Javed Ahmadi recorded the highest individual score of this edition of the World Cup, with his 134 helping Afghanistan to a massive win over Scotland in the 9th place play-off semi-final at Allan Border Field. The captain Ahmadi smashed 17 fours and four sixes in his 111-knock before he was dismissed in the 38th over. Some power hitting by Najibullah Zadran (83 off 51) and Afsar Khan took the score to 336, the second-highest total so far. The total was well out of reach for Scotland, who managed only 210, to lose by 126 runs. Only two batsmen passed 30, with the highest score being Mathew Cross' 37.