Pakistan qualify for Super League stage

Karachi, Jan 16: Pakistan qualified for Super League stage in the Youth World Cup on Sunday but South Africa were eliminated from the contest without playing a ball in the tournament as all their matches were washed out.

Pakistan topped Group C when their crucial match against South Africa was washed out. Nepal was the second team to qualify from Group C after defeating Kenya by 14 runs in a reduced over game.

In the Super League, Pakistan is pooled with West Indies, New Zealand and Australia. The second pool is England, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Each team will play three league matches before two top teams from each pool qualify for the semi-finals. The Super League stage begins from Tuesday while the semi-finals will be played on Jan 24.

South Africa's all three league matches couldn't be played because of rains in the pearl island. They were restricted to just one point per match though they could have collected wins against Nepal and Kenya had weather permitted.

Nepal finished with three points along with South Africa. But qualified with a net run-rate of 0.304 against South Africa's zero net run-rate. It is contestable though because if South Africa hasn't played a match how it can have no run-rate instead of zero run-rate.

Pakistan were lucky to get through after their opener against Kenya was played. Pakistan had defeated Kenya by eight wickets before their matches against Nepal and South Africa were washed out.

It was a bitter blow to the two African nations. South Africa was one of the title favourites while Kenya desperately needed to qualify for the next stage to prove that earning one-day international status was no fluke.

South Africa and Nepal will now play in the Plate Championship Groupings. The Plate championship will run along side Super League.

Nepal, bating first, scored a modest 107 for 44.3 after their 50-over match was reduced to 46-over-a-side fixture. Nepal's innings was bolstered by healthy 48 extras that included 41 wide balls.

Kenya, who needed to win in 27 overs to qualify for the Super League stage, were dismissed for 93 in 24.5 overs with Mohammad Sheikh finishing as the top scorer with 47. Mohammad Alam and Das were the main wicket-takers. Alam conceded 36 runs for his three wickets while Das gave away 25 runs for his three wickets.

In the other matches of the day, India defeated New Zealand by 28 runs to emerge as Group B champions. New Zealand qualified as the second team.

India's win was dominated by their all-rounder Yuvraj Singh who excelled with the bat and bowl in an otherwise unimpressive performance by rest of the players. Singh smacked a run-a-ball 62 with 12 boundaries in India's 199 in 49.1 overs and then captured four wickets for 36 runs to dismiss New Zealand for 171 in 49.3 overs.

In India's knock, N.K Patel was the other major contributor with 25 while for New Zealand Robin bagged four wickets for 26 runs while Irwin picked up three wickets for 13 runs. J.P McNamee, 56 off 81 balls with five fours, was the top scorer for New Zealand. J.E.C Franklin (20) was the other notable scorer.

In an another Group B match of academic interest, Bangladesh beat Netherlands by five wickets by D/L method. Bangladesh, chasing 138 to win in 50 overs, were 119 for five in 25.3 when rain prevented further play.