ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup Bangladesh 2004
Dhaka, 22 February 2004 - ICC Reports
Super League Group 2 -Sri Lanka fall short against West Indies
West Indies beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs at the Fatullah District Stadium
Sri Lanka's top order batsmen let the side down to fall 19 runs short of a modest target set by the West Indies at the Fatullah District Stadium. Sri Lanka won the toss and put West Indies into bat. Accurate bowling restricted progress and it wasn't until the 29th over that they reached the 100 mark. Despite having wickets in hand, West Indies were unable to up the tempo in the closing overs and finished on 200 for 7 after 50 overs. Captain Denesh Ramdin top-scored with 51.
Sri Lanka's top order have struggled for runs in this tournament and today was no exception. The first four batsmen were back in the pavilion for 21 runs as fast-bowler Lionel Baker's extra pace and bounce created chaos. Chamith Kulasekara and Suraj Mohamed rallied for Sri Lanka to take them to 164 for 7 with four overs remaining. But then Baker retuned to dismiss Kulasekara for 64 and Mohammad for 37 to swing the match decisively in West Indies' favour. Baker fittingly picked up the final wicket in the last over of the match to finish with figures of 6 for 39 as Sri Lanka were all out for 181.
Man of the Match Baker was pleased to find his rhythm with the ball. "It's a great feeling to win today and it is good to start the Super League in good form," said Baker.
Sri Lanka's coach D.S. de Silva was critical of his side's batting display. "If we are going to succeed in this tournament, the top order batsmen must make runs together," said de Silva "At the moment our batting has been failing and today it cost us the match."
Plate Championship Group 1 - Australia skittle Scotland for record low
Australia beat Scotland by 10 wickets at the M.A. Aziz Stadium.
Australia hit top gear at the M.A. Aziz Stadium today in dismissing Scotland for a tournament-record low score of 22. It took Australia less than two hours to wrap up the most one-sided match in the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup's history. The display was a clear sign that after missing out on the Super League Australia will not be taking their foot off the pedal in the Plate Championship.
Six of the Scotland batsmen were out for ducks as opening bowlers Gary Putland and Cameron Huckett traded wickets. They finished with four apiece, conceding only 16 runs between them. Stephen O'Keefe picked up the final two Scottish scalps at a cost of only one run.
It took Australia's openers Tim Paine and Theo Doropoulos only 3.5 overs to reach the target and the match was over one minute before 11am.
It was Scotland's fourth consecutive heavy defeat and coach Willie Morton was dismayed with his side's performance. "Australia are a strong team but we can't accept results as poor as that. I am very disappointed with the way we played today," said Morton.
Australia coach Bennett King said that his team would be going all-out to win the Plate Championship "We came here expecting to be playing in the Super League but we didn't beat Zimbabwe," said King "Now we are in the Plate Championship and it must now be our target to win that instead and we will field the same players in our next match."
The previous lowest score at the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup was 41 scored by Canada against South Africa at Auckland in 2002. Huckett was named Man of the Match.
Plate Championship Group 2 - Nepal claims comfortable win
Nepal beat Papua New Guinea by seven wickets at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium
The tournament's surprise package Nepal again demonstrated its batting pedigree in beating Papua New Guinea by seven wickets at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium with over 10 overs to spare. PNG were put in to bat and made slow progress against the accurate Nepal attack. All of the top five got into double figures but none was able to build on their start to lead PNG to a match-winning target.
PNG were instead content to bat out their fifty overs, finishing on 168 for nine. Lakpa Lama was the most successful bowler with 4 for 51.
The Nepal reply was dominated by opener Kanishka Chaugai who finished the match 90 not out to lead his side to victory in 39.2 overs.
Chaugai was Man of the Match and earned praise from his team manager T.B. Shah. "Chaugai batted very well today on a good pitch," said Shah. "After a hiccup at the start where we dropped a couple of catches the game went well for us. "We do not have any long-term targets for the tournament, we are taking each game as it comes."