Spinners give Scotland easy win

Three wickets each from Chayank Gosain and Ross McLean helped Scotland Under-19s cruise to a six-wicket win against Papua New Guinea Under-19s in the opening Group A fixture at the ICC Academy in Dubai. Gosain, McLean, and two wickets from Mark Watt, made sure PNG were skittled for 108 and despite a stutter from the top order, Scotland completed the victory in the 30th over.

PNG, who opted to bat, lost wickets at regular intervals, their biggest partnership being 26 for the fourth between Dogodo Bau and Hiri Hiri. Left-arm spinner Gosain dismissed the openers to reduce PNG to 10 for 2 and later 32 for 3, before Bau and Hiri took them past 50. But they were hurt by a lower-order collapse and lost the final seven wickets for 50 runs.

Scotland suffered early woes too, slipping to 24 for 3, but Zander Muir and Nick Farrar put them on course. Farrar fell for a patient 26 before Muir, with an unbeaten 39, and Kyle Stirling took them home with a 33-run stand.

Shadman Islam and Joyraz Sheik put on an unbroken 216-run partnership to steer Bangladesh Under-19s to a 10-wicket win over Afghanistan Under-19s in Abu Dhabi. Chasing 213, Bangladesh got home with 45 balls remaining.

The left-handed Shadman was the dominant partner in the stand, finishing on an unbeaten 126 from 142 balls with 14 fours and a six. Joyraz, meanwhile, struck 11 fours in a 114-ball 81 not out. None of the six bowlers Afghanistan used was able to make a breakthrough.

Sent in to bat, Afghanistan made a decent start, with Usman Ghani and Mohammad Mujtaba putting on 69 for the first wicket in 15.5 overs. But they lost wickets regularly after Ghani was run out for 27. Mujtaba, Hashmatullah Shaidi and Nasir Ahmadzai scored 40s, but none of them went on to make a substantial score. The spinners did most of the damage for Bangladesh, with offspinner Mosaddek Hossain taking three wickets and left-armer Rahatul Ferdous taking two.

Matthew Short scored 96 to set up a 101-run win for Australia Under-19s over Namibia Under-19s at Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Batting first, Australia lost Kelvin Smith early, but Short, his opening partner, put on 80 with Jaron Morgan and 100 with Ben McDermott to lay the platform for a solid total. When Short was bowled by Bredell Wessells for a 138-ball 96, Australia were 185 for 4 in 41.4 overs. Alex Gregory then struck a 21-ball 25 to help push their total to 242 for 7. Wessels finished with four wickets, and fellow medium-pacer JJ Smit took three.

Namibia lost wickets at regular intervals and were never in the game. At 69 for 7, they were in danger of falling short of 100, but Wessells and Smit ensured that wouldn't happen, with a 35-run eighth-wicket partnership. Wessells was eventually last man out for a 56-ball 43, having taken Namibia's score to 141 in the company of Nos. 10 and 11. For Australia, seamers James Bazley and Matthew Fotia took three wickets each.