U19 World Cup: Pakistan win cliff-hanger to book final spot

Heroics by Zafar Gohar and Amad Butt ensures dramatic win.

An unbroken 63 run partnership for the eighth wicket between Zafar Gohar and Amad Butt took Pakistan to the final of the ICC U19 World Cup. The former champions were down and out when their seventh wicket fell at 142 in pursuit of a 205 run target but Gohar and Butt combined to shock England.

The two played displayed a temperament beyond their tender years to bring an extremely unlikely win for the two time former champions.

The game was sealed in the final over of the match after a jittery batting performance had diminished chances of a win for Pakistan despite a good performance by the bowlers.

Pakistan got off to a great start after England had opted to bat first in the match played in Dubai as the openers were sent packing with only one run on the board. The English boys had crashed to 69 for four but recovered to post a competitive score through a 76-run knock by their captain Will Rhodes.

Ryan Higgins scored 52 off 99 to provide much needed solidity in the middle-order; he succeeded in building useful partnerships before Rhodes took the centre stage with some punishing batting towards the end of the innings. For Pakistan, Ziaul Haq, Butt and Karamat Ali captured two wickets each.

Batsmen stumble but tail-enders deliver

For once Pakistan’s prolific opening pair of Imamul Haq and captain Sami Aslam failed to give a solid start. Aslam fell for 18 while Haq was sent packing after hobbling his way through to 28, as he sustained a leg injury at the start of the innings.

The boys in green endured two mini-collapses during their chase, three wickets fell at the score of 57. Later, they crashed from 131 for four to 142 for seven before the heroics of Gohar and Butt.

Gohar was declared man of the match for his 53 ball icy cool knock of 37 runs. Butt was dropped in the 48th over of the innings by Jack Winslade, the ball landed outside the boundary rope giving Pakistan six valuable runs.

The equation was settled by Butt, when he smashed the first ball of the final over for a four off the luckless Winslade.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2014.

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