Bangladesh, ECB complete semis line-up

Karachi, July 21: Bangladesh and Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) joined hosts Pakistan and favourites Sri Lanka in the semi-finals of the Under-17 Asia Cup Cricket Tournament after the last round of league fixtures on Friday.

Bangladesh finished second behind Pakistan in Pool `A' after chalking up a comfortable 10-wicket victory over Kuwait here at the UBL Sports Complex.

Kuwait, who were asked to bat first, made only 89 in 42.4 overs despite Dilesh Thurairatnam scoring 46 off 114 deliveries with six fours.

Pacer Talha Jubir was the wrecker-in-chief with four for 19 in 6.4 overs while off-spinner Shafi-ul-Islam claimed three for 10 in seven overs.

Skipper Nafees Iqbal hammered 54 off 69 balls with five fours as Bangladesh reached 90 without loss in 19.4 overs to record their third victory in the competition. Mohammad Ashraful, who claimed two for 18 in nine overs, remained unbeaten on 30.

Summarized scores:

Kuwait 89 in 42.4 overs (Dilesh Thurairatnam 46; Talha Jubir 4-19, Shafi-ul-Islam 3-10, Mohammad Ashraful 2-18);

Bangladesh 90 for no wicket in 19.4 overs (Nafees Iqbal 54 not out, Mohammad Ashraful 30 not out).

Dramatic tie in Quetta: ECB sneaked into the semi-finals from Pool 'B' after their match against Malaysia ended in a dramatic tie at the Bugti Stadium in Quetta.

ECB, who were chasing a target of 167, were all out for 166 in 41.4 overs after losing their last five wickets for 21 runs in 57 balls.

Opener Aamir Hussain blasted 50 off 31 balls for ECB. His knock was laced with seven fours and one six. The opening stand between Aamir Hussain and Aamir Shahzad (21) realized 78.

Medium-pacer Branhvso Indran captured four for 46.

Earlier, Malaysia reached 166 for nine in 45 overs after electing to bat first.

Eszafiq Abdul top scored with 46 off 64 deliveries with five hits to the fence.

Mohammad Usman took three for 18 in nine overs.

Malaysia 166 for nine in 45 overs (Eszafiq Abdul Aziz 46, Satguna Vickneswaran 23; Mohammad Usman 3-18, Ali Feroz Poonawala 2-13, Najamul-Razzaq 2-21);

ECB 166 in 41.4 overs (Aamir Hussain 50, Mohammad Abdullah 27, Aamir Shahzad 21; Branhvso Indran 4-46, Peter Chung 2-19, Shanmugam Sathiswaran 2-34).

Pakistan crush Bahrain: Pakistan warmed up for their semi-final clash against ECB on Sunday with a nine-wicket win over Bahrain at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.

Bahrain, who won the toss, were dismissed for 87 in 34.2 overs.

Off-spinner Munir Ansari returned splendid figures of four wickets for nine runs in his quota of nine overs.

Khalid Latif stroked an unbeaten 48 off 39 balls with eight boundaries as Pakistan reached their target by scoring 89 for one in 13.5 overs.

Summarized sores:

Bahrain 87 in 34.2 overs (Munir Ansari 4-9, Altaf Hussain 2-22, Zaheer Maqsood 2-23);

Pakistan 89 for one in 13.5 overs (Khalid Latif 48 not out, Khurram Ibrahim 21 not out).

Singapore beat SACB: Singapore achieved their first win of the competition when defeated the Saudi Arabia Cricket Board (SACB) by five wickets here at the Asghar Ali Shah Cricket Stadium.

SACB made 121 in 35.3 overs.

In reply, Singapore reached 123 for five in 33.3 overs.

Summarized scores:

SACB 121 in 35.3 overs (Abdul Basit 46; Zeeshan Raza 3-30, Peter Muruthi 2-14, Maxim Mok 2-15, Riaz Altaf Hussain 2-19);

Singapore 123 for five in 33.3 overs (Siddarth Verma 34, Renchun Zeng 29 not out, Anand Santhanam 20; Yasir Butt 2-22).

Fixture for saturday: 1st semi-final: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh at National Stadium, Karachi.