U19 Cricket World Cup: England plant one foot in quarter-finals

Side beat West Indies by 61 runs to top Group C ahead of their clash with Zimbabwe

England are on the brink of booking themselves a spot in the quarter-finals after a convincing 61-run over West Indies in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016 in Chittagong on Friday saw them top Group C with four points.

The Three Lions scored 282-7 in their 50 overs after electing to bat first, with Callum Taylor (59) and Dan Lawrence (55) scoring half-centuries.

The West Indies suffered early setbacks as they lost two wickets in the opening over and despite some defiant batting from Gidron Pope (60) and Keemo Paul, who scored 65 off 58 balls, were dismissed for 221.



Lawrence followed his half-century with two wickets to be adjudged the player of the match, but seamer Saqib Mahmood was the pick of the bowlers with 4-42.

“It got a bit nervous out there when their partnerships were going, but in the end it was a comfortable win,” said England captain Brad Taylor. “I think the seamers did a great job in conditions that did not favour them, but the spinners allowed us to get a lot of dot balls.”

England need just a point in their last match against Zimbabwe on Sunday to finish as group leaders.



Meanwhile, Namibia made a creditable start in Group A with a surprisingly easy nine-wicket rout of Scotland to keep their dream alive of making the Super League quarter-finals for the first time.

The Scots were reduced to 129-9 after electing to bat, before a last-wicket partnership of 30 between Scott Cameron and Mohammad Ghaffar lifted them to 159.

Nambia eased past that target in 26 overs following an opening stand of 95 between SJ Loftie-Eaton (67 not out) and Niko Davin (52).



Scotland’s captain Neil Flack said he was disappointed at the defeat, but vowed to bounce back. “We had a bad day, but credit to Namibia. They made us pay,” said Flack. “Our plans did not come through with the bat. We played a few silly shots. But trust me, we will bounce back.”

Pakistan will be looking to make it two wins in two when they take on Canada in Sylhet on Saturday.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th,  2016.

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