Pakistan qualify by beating England in key game

Pakistan breathed a sigh of relief in Christchurch today when keeping their ICC Under-19 World Cup aspirations alive by qualifying for the Super League series when beating England by six wickets.

Having been beaten by Nepal in their match, the Pakistanis were in a must-win situation today and they made the most of it after winning the toss and putting England in.

England were soon in trouble with their two openers back in the pavilion with only 22 runs on the board.

However, Nicky Peng maintained the consistent form he has shown with the bat this summer to score a handy 59 off 83 balls and with assistance from Gordon Muchall (18), Bilal Shafayat (21) and Kyle Hogg (40) built a position of reasonable advantage.

But England could well have done with extra runs in the two overs they missed out on as a result of being dismissed in 48.1 overs.

Irfan-ud-Din used his off-spin to good effect to take four for 42 from his 10 overs, including the key wickets of Peng and Hogg.

Pakistan made a solid start which wasn't spectacular but was certainly effective. Opener Salman Butt scored his 35 off 93 balls while his partner Kamran Younis scored 15 off 41 balls. Thirty-five runs were scored for the first wicket and then a key 83 runs for the second wicket as Khaqan Arsal joined Butt to score 62 off 76 balls.

Kamran Sajid was 22 not out out and Asim Butt scored 20 to round out a Pakistan batting effort which saw the side home to their six wicket win in the 45th over.

Tim Bresnan took three wickets for 46 runs for England.