UNB, Fatullah :
Denying Umair Masood’s century, West Indian youths booked the last semifinal seat in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup with a five-wicket victory over Pakistan at Khan Saheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah on Monday.
West Indies will face the host Bangladesh in the 2nd semifinal at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday (Feb 11).
However, Sri Lanka will take on India in the first semifinal of the 11th edition world youth cricket at the same venue on Tuesday (Feb 9).
In the day’s match, West Indies, chasing a moderate target of 228 runs, sealed the win scoring 229 for 5 in 40 overs, riding on two half centuries by Tevin Imlach and skipper Shimron Hetmyer. Keemo Paul drew the winning line firing a boundary in the innings last ball off a Hayatullah bowling.
Apart from their individual performance, TA Imlach and SO Hetmyer paired in the 2nd wickets for 77 runs in 12.5 overs. The 2nd pair carried the team total to 122/2 in 19.1 overs from 45/1 in 6.2 overs as SO Hetmyer was stumped out by Masood off Shadab Khan bowling.
TA Imlach was run out for 54 off 76 balls, including five boundaries, leaving the team total at 147/4 in 27.1 overs while SO Hetmyer hit 52 off 42 balls involving eight boundaries and one six.
Shamar Springer scored run-a-ball 37 with three boundaries and two sixes. Jyd Goolie (not out 26 off 32b; 2×4), KMA Paul (not out 24 off 16b; 4×4, 1×6) and opener Gidron Pope (25 off 18b; 2×4, 2×6) were the other double figure contributors for West Indies.
Sameen Gul, Ahmad Shafiq and Shadab Khan took one wicket each for 32, 35 and 54 runs.
Opening bat after winning the toss, Pakistan scored 227 for 6 in 50 over spurred by the 6th wicket contribution of 164 runs in 28.1 overs.
On the way to 113-run century off 114 balls, including 15 boundaries and two sixes, Masood paired with Salman Fayyaz in the 6th wicket.
The 6th pair started from 57/5 in 21 overs and ended up at 221/6 in 49.1 overs as Masood was caught by Tevin Imlach off a Ryan John delivery.
