Round-up of day two of warm-up matches ahead of the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup
England shocked tournament favourites India by pulling off a 28-run win in a low-scoring thriller in the latest round of warm-up matches ahead of the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup
Brian Murgatroyd
02-Feb-2006
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England's win was even more remarkable because they appeared to have blown their chances of success when they batted, thanks to a spectacular collapse. After opener Mark Stoneman blazed 64 from only 53 balls to take them to 113-1, England subsided to 186 all out with 6.2 overs unused. Six Indian bowlers enjoyed success with Saurabh Bandekar the most successful of them with 3-36.
Mark Nelson had helped England to their final score thanks to an aggressive 34 and he then became the star with the ball as India were skittled for just 158. Nelson removed Gaurav Dhiman, so prolific in last November's Afro-Asian U/19 Cup, with the first ball of the innings and finished with 3-37.
Spinner Nick James, who was England's super sub, weighed in with 3-20 and for India only Rohit Sharma, with an aggressive 34 from just 22 balls reached 30.
Sri Lanka bounced back from the mauling they received at the hands of the West Indies on Wednesday to record a morale-boosting 78-run win over the defending champions Pakistan.
Such a convincing win looked unlikely when the home side collapsed from 116-1 to muster only 228, with Dimuth Karunaratne top-scoring with 50. For the second day in a row a bowler performed a hat-trick against Sri Lanka with Jamshaid Ahmed picking up the last three wickets to finish with 4-45.
Pakistan would have expected to score those runs for victory, especially against a Sri Lanka side without captain Angelo Mathews, who missed the match with a throat infection, but they slipped from 53-2 to be 85-7 and although the lower order rallied, it was nothing more than a face-saving operation as they were eventually dismissed for 150 with an amazing 16.1 overs left unused. Seven bowlers shared the wickets for Sri Lanka.
The United States of America (USA) were given a tough introduction to big-time U/19 cricket as they were hammered by ten wickets by a Bangladesh side which showed why they are regarded as one of the favourites for the tournament.
The USA lost the wicket of Sumon Bari to the first ball of the match and things scarcely improved after that as they crawled to 143 all out despite Bangladesh using nine bowlers. Nabil Chowdhury was the only one to deliver his full allocation of 10 overs and finished with a remarkable 1-12 while Rezaul Islam took 3-12.
No USA batsman reached 30 and respectability was only achieved thanks to fighting innings from wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson (29), Dunae Nathaniel (27) and Nisarg Patel (23).
That respectability was, however, short-lived as Tamim Iqbal thrashed an unbeaten 104 from only 64 balls to make a mockery of the target as Bangladesh won with 32.4 overs to spare.
South Africa appeared set for defeat when they slipped to 58-4 chasing New Zealand's 187 but a high-class unbeaten 90 from Richard Levi, who added 128 for the fifth wicket with super sub Grant Makoena (34) eased their worries and they won with 9.5 overs in hand.
Earlier every New Zealand player from three to nine in the order reached double figures but their top score was only 35 from captain Marc Ellison as South Africa's bowlers shared the wickets around.
Uganda made amends for their heavy defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe on Wednesday by enjoying victory over Ireland.
With Jimmy Okello scoring 66, the Africans reached 218-9 in their 50 overs while Ireland used eight bowlers with Greg Thompson the most successful with 3-33.
It was a target that should have been within Ireland's range but despite 59 from Andrew Poynter they fell well short. Emmanuel Nakaana, the 14 year-old spinner who is the tournament's youngest player, took 3-43 while Davis Arinaitwe collected 3-22.
Further warm-up matches will be played on Friday ahead of the official opening of the tournament on Saturday and the first group matches on Sunday.