Bangladesh will face stronger England in their 3rd and last Group C match of the 16-team ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup early Thursday at the Queenstown Events Centre in New Zealand to decide the group title.
The match will kick off at 3:30 am (Bangladesh Standard Time).
Two lowly teams in the four-team Group C, Canada and Namibia will battle each other on Thursday at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Linclon for their maiden win.
Bangladesh U-19 team topped the group list securing full four points from straight two matches with run rate of 2.186, England followed the Young Tigers collecting full two points from one match having a run rate of 4.273 while Canada and Namibia yet to open the account playing two and one match respectively.
The young Tigers, which almost assured the quarterfinal berth from the group with a comfortable 66 runs victory over Canada in their 2nd match Monday last, featuring a stunning century from Towhid Hridoy (122) and an all-round performances from Afif Hossain (50 runs and 5/43), needed just an outright victory against England to be the group champions.
In case of any defeat in Thursday’s match against England, the young Tigers have another chance to go through the last eight stage, if mighty England will able to beat outsider Canada in the last Group C affairs on January 20.
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) assured the quarterfinal berth beating Canada (198 /10 49.3) by 66 runs in the 2nd group encounters Monday last.
On the other hand, England (198/2 in 24.1), which crushed lowly Namibia (196/9 in 50) by eight wickets in their first appearance, will play Canada on January 20 in their other group encounters, apart from Thursday’s match against Bangladesh.
On completion of four quarterfinals on January 23, 24, 25 and 26, the two semifinals billed for January 29 and 30 and the final on February 3.
