A captain knock of unbeaten 102 runs by Harry Brook guided England to earn a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in their 2nd Group C match of the 16-team ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup at the Queenstown Events Centre in New Zealand on Thursday.
Despite the day’s defeat in their 3rd and last group affairs, the Young Tigers have a fair chance to play in the quarter final from the group with four points from three matches and they needed England’s outright victory or tie against lowly Canada on January 20 although Bangladesh are enjoying a better run-rate advantage.
With the day’s well merited, England also assured the quarter-final berth from the group securing full four points from straight two matches.
In the day’s other match between two lowly teams in the four-team Group C, Canada (197 /6 in 42) beat all losers Namibia (193/10 in 46) by four wickets to bag two points from two matches, have an outside chance to book a seat for the last eight stage, if they beat mighty England by a good margin in the last match.
Going to bat first after winning the toss, the Young Tigers were all out cheaply for 175 runs in 49.2 overs despite 94 runs in the 5th wicket stand by team’s consistent performer Afif Hossain and Aminul Islam.
After the soft dismissal of four top order batsmen -Pinak Ghosh (4), captain Saif Hassan (1), Mohammad Nayeem (1) and last match centurion Towhid Hridoy (12)-for 27 runs in 8.3 overs, Afif Hossain pairing Aminul Islam repaired the early damage adding 94 runs in the 5th wicket to carry team total to 121 form 27.
Number five batsman cum man of the match of the last match Afif Hossain hammered the team highest 63 runs off 85 balls, featuring eight boundaries while number six Aminul Islam scored 64-ball 31 runs with help of two fours.
But the Bangladesh U-19 side failed to make a challenging total when England bowler Euan Woods dismissed two top Bangladeshi performers Afif Hossain and Aminul Islam, in span of only two balls and one run in the 32nd overs.
Apart from Afif and Aminul, tail-ender Hasan Mahmud made 23 runs off 35 balls hitting two fours and one six while and lower order Mahiul Islam Akon added another 20 runs off 50 balls with a boundary for Bangladesh.
Pacer Ethan Bamber and off-spinner Euan Woods grabbed three wickets each conceding 19 and 26 runs respectively.
Chasing an easy target, England U-19 team faced no trouble to score match-winning 177 runs for the loss of only three wickets with 123 balls to spare despite of initial batting collapse.
After the departure of top three batsmen-T Banton (9), S Perera (7) and WG Jacks (8)-for 49 runs in 7 overs, skipper Harry Brooks partnering with ED Woods guided the team towards victory contributing an unconquered 128 runs in the 4th stand.
One down Harry Brooks hammered a flamboyant 102 runs off 84 balls featuring 13 fours and three sixes to be adjudged man of the match while number five ED Woods scored an unbeaten 48 runs playing 57 balls with four hits to fence.
Qazi Anik, Hasan Mahmud and Nayeem Hasan took one wicket apiece conceding 19, 27 and 36 runs respectively.
Earlier, Bangladesh U-19 team (190/4 in 20) made a flying start in the global meet with an 87-run victory over Namibia (103/6 in 20) in the opening match last Saturday and the young Tigers (264/8 in 50) brightened their chance to play the quarterfinal beating Canada (198 /10 49.3) by 66 runs in the 2nd group encounters Monday last.
