India assured of semifinal berth

India defeated England by nine wickets at the CCC Ground in Colombo on Thursday. The loss means that England, the defending champions, have been knocked out of the under-19 World Cup. India is now assured of a place in the semi-final.

Forced to chase a modest English total of 182 the Indian batsmen romped to victory with 7.3 overs remaining. Manish Sharma (86*) and Raneet Ricky (68) thrashed the bowling to all parts of the ground in an opening partnership of 134.

Such was the ease with which they defeated England, the Indian players felt the need to have some extra practice after the match to brush up on some of their batting and bowling skills.

Speaking afterwards to CRICINFO, the Indian coach was a very contented man. ``It turned out to be an easy one, I didn't expect it to be that easy. I think we batted pretty well. They didn't try anything stupid in the first 15 overs. Our fielding though needs to have a bit more work as our ground fielding was a bit scratchy.''

When asked if the players believed that they could win this tournament, he replied ``they are starting to believe in themselves that they can do it, having seen most of the teams play. The next one though is going to be a big one against Sri Lanka.''

India dominated the entire match from the moment that they won the toss and asked England to bat. Sallab Srivastava and Tripathy immediately caused problems with their pace and prodigious swing. However despite playing and missing on numerous occasions the English batsmen did not get out to either.

Mark Wallace (2) was the first to go when he was run out by a direct hit from Yuvaraj Singh in the fourth over. Ian Bell and John Maunder, who was playing his first game of the tour, then battled hard to survive. Regularly playing and missing the pair were only parted in the 15th over when Bell was caught behind off the medium pace of Ritender Sodhi.

Michael Carberry and Maunders then put on 38 for the third wicket before Maunders was stumped for 32. With England precariously placed on 74-3 off 25 overs the arrival of Gary Pratt changed the tempo of the innings. Willing to use his feet, but also quick to cut, he was the only player to look comfortable against the spinners.

However the 53-run partnership ended when Carberry was caught behind for 36. The dismissal marked the beginning of the end for England, as wickets were then lost at regular intervals.

When it came to England's turn to bowl they wasted the new ball by bowling far too short on a flat wicket. Manish Sharma and Raneet Ricky played themselves in cautiously in the first 15 before taking the attack to the English bowlers.

Their batting was a class above anything seen all day. Anything loose from the bowlers was punished severely. Not afraid to use their feet to the spinners and prepared to hit all the bowlers over the top they raced to their target.

England's only consolatory wicket in the afternoon was Raneet Ricky, bowled by Murtagh of his inside edge.