ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup Bangladesh 2004
Dhaka, 24 February 2004 - ICC Reports
India back in the frame with victory over West Indies
India beat West Indies by 96 runs at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka
India bounced back into contention in Super League Group 1 with a convincing 96-run victory over the West Indies in a day/night match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. India erased the memory of defeat against South Africa two days ago with a solid all-round performance to leave all four sides in the group tied on two points after two rounds of matches.
India won the toss and opted to bat but were soon in trouble against a West Indies attack boosted by the return of a fit-again Ravi Rampaul. Rampaul took one of the early wickets as India were pegged back to 69 for 3 in the seventeenth over. But one of India's strengths in this tournament has been the depth of their batting and today Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Kartik provided the bulk of the runs with 47, 66 and 46 apiece as they recovered to 253 for 9 from their 50 overs. Under the Bangabandhu lights Gourav Dhiman and then Avishek Sharma made rapid inroads into the West Indies batting line-up. Eight batsmen were caught out as only Assad Fudadin stayed at the crease long enough to reach 50.
West Indies were all out for 157 in 39.1 overs with Dhiman finishing with 3 for 26 and Sharma claiming 4 for 28. In addition to his 66 crucial runs, Raina picked up 2 for 23 in his 10 over spell, enough to earn him the man of the match award.
India captain Ambati Rayudu was pleased with his team's all-round performance. "The South Africa game was a wake up call for us and we knew we had to win today," said Rayudu. "We didn't perform to our ability against South Africa but everyone played their part today. We worked hard for each other and it paid off."
West Indies coach Clyde Butts said his batsmen were to blame for the defeat. "We started well with the ball and though they fought back in the second half of their innings I thought 253 was within our reach," said Butts. "Our batsmen did not perform as well as they can and they will have to do much better in two days time against South Africa if we are to qualify for the semi-finals. "The passage to the next round is still open for us, all we have to do is win the match against South Africa."
With all four Super League Group 1 teams level on two points the final two group matches will be sudden-death eliminators.
Tomorrow's fixtures:
Sri Lanka's batsman inspire win over South Africa
Sri Lanka beat South Africa by 29 runs at the Fatullah District Stadium
Super League Group 1 is wide open after Sri Lanka beat South Africa by 29 runs at the Fatullah District Stadium. Sri Lanka bounced back from defeat against the West Indies to beat South Africa, conquerors of India two days ago, with a solid batting display.
Sri Lanka won the toss and, for the first time in the tournament, batted first. Liberated from the pressure of chasing a target, Sri Lanka's top order batsmen finally find found their form. Opener Upul Tharanga dominated from the start to become the first Sri Lankan to reach the 100 mark in the tournament. Tharanga went on to make 117 and was well-supported by Nadeera Nawala (56) and Gihan de Silva (42) as South Africa's bowlers failed to reproduce the unerring accuracy they had shown in bowling out India two days earlier. With all-rounder Chamith Kulasekara chipping in with 32 from 14 balls in the final overs, Sri Lanka recorded comfortably their biggest total of the tournament, an impressive 277 for 5 in 50 overs.
The South Africa reply got off to a stuttering start and Sri Lanka captain Farveez Mahroof and Manoj Chanaka picked up a wicket each in the opening five overs. Jaco Booysen lead a spirited fightback as South Africa's innings gained momentum. They reached 200 in 39.4 overs with Booysen rapidly passing 50 and closing in on the second century of the match. With five wickets and 10 overs in hand and 78 runs required for victory it looked as though South Africa were capable of engineering a third consecutive spectacular victory after beating England by one wicket and India by three runs. But Mahroof brought himself and Chanaka back into the attack and they picked up vital wickets. When Booysen was eighth man out, bowled by Mahroof for 120 from 114 balls, the game was up for his side and the tail was mopped up in the 49th over with South Africa still 29 runs short.
South Africa coach Russell Domingo felt his side had lost the match in the first innings. "The Sri Lankans played very well in that they did the basics well," said Domingo. "The same could not be said for us. We conceded 24 extras to their seven and dropped a couple of crucial chances."
Sri Lanka coach D.S. de Silva was relieved that his top order had at last made some runs. "It was our batting that won us the match today," said De Silva. "We made a big score for the first time and we will now look to be positive in the group decider against India. We are still confident we can make it through to the semi-finals." Sri Lanka's next match is a day/night game against India on 26 February, South Africa will play West Indies on the same day.
Another rapid win for Australia
Australia beat Papua New Guinea by nine wickets at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium
Australia made light work of Papua New Guinea, winning by nine wickets at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium to all-but-guarantee their place in the Plate Championship semi-finals. It took Australia a little longer to dispatch Papua New Guinea than their 3.5-over mauling of Scotland two days ago but they still had the game wrapped up before 1.30 pm.
Australia won the toss and put their regional rivals in to bat. PNG struggled from the outset but battled bravely for 35 overs to reach 83 all out. Vivian Kila was the most satisfied PNG batsman after surviving for 62 balls for his 32 runs. Australia's top bowler was left-armer Josh Mangan with 4 for 31.
The Australia reply was brisk and professional and they wrapped up the innings in 18.2 overs for the loss of just one wicket.
PNG coach Paul Joseph said that his players would benefit from the experience of facing such strong opposition. "You know that you cannot win a match like this but it will help us in the future," said Joseph. "It was a good experience for the players and I have no doubt that it will help them improve."
Australia's final group match is against Nepal on 26 February. On the same day PNG will face Scotland.
Scotland spirited to first victory by all-rounder Iqbal
Scotland beat Nepal by three wickets at the M.A. Aziz Stadium
All-rounder Moneeb Iqbal made telling contributions with ball and bat to lead Scotland to their first victory of the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup. After four consecutive maulings against India, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia, Scotland's players showed considerable resolve to beat Nepal in a tense last-over finish.
After putting Nepal in to bat, Scotland restricted them to 200 for 9 from their 50 overs with Iqbal and Craig Anderson taking two wickets each and Gordon Goudie claiming 3 for 37.
Nepal fielded well from the start of the reply and with the spinners bowling a tight line, Scotland struggled to keep up with the required rate. Opener Iqbal collected a valuable 62 runs but with 15 overs to go Scotland needed eight an over. Fortunately for them they were able to call on the services of Sean Weeraratna. Weeraratna only arrived in Bangladesh as a replacement for injured wicketkeeper Andrew Hislop a week ago but his teammates were thankful for his presence today as he smashed 34 runs from 26 balls to wallop Scotland to victory with one ball to spare.
"It was a very tense win," said Scotland team manager Alistair Scott. "Our bowlers did very well to put us in a winning position but our batsmen looked nervous and I was very relieved when they made it. "We are now in a good position to qualify for the semi-finals and a win against Papua New Guinea should see us through."
Iqbal was named man of the match.
Code of Conduct breaches at ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup Bangladesh 2004
Six breaches of the ICC Code of Conduct have been reported in the opening 32 matches of the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh.
Four Indian players, one English player and one South African have all been found guilty by ICC Match Referees after reports were lodged by the match umpires.
Dinesh Karthik, Sunny Singh and Suresh Raina were all severely reprimanded and warned of their future conduct after being found guilty of breaching Level 2.6 of the Code by appealing in an aggressive manner in India's group match against Bangladesh on 20 February.
On the same day, England's Thomas New and South Africa's Roelof van der Merwe were given official reprimands after the team's encounter. The pair were both found guilty of showing dissent at an umpire's decision.
The final player to have breached the Code in the competition is India bowler Gaurav Dhiman. He was reported by the umpires for gesturing to the pavilion in an aggressive manner after dismissing a South Africa batsman in the match on 22 February. Dhiman pleaded guilty to a breach of Level 1.6 and was also officially reprimanded.
The standard ICC Code of Conduct is in operation during the ICC U/19 CWC although fines do not apply. If any of the above players commits a repeat offence they will face a ban.
Asian players dominate Man of Tournament standings
Sri Lanka captain Farveez Maharoof has been joined by teammate Chamith Kulasekara and the tournament's top-scoring batsmen Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the Man of the Tournament standings at the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup.
All three have improved their points tally in the Super League stage but they have only a one-point cushion ahead of Nepal's Shakti Gauchan.
This quartet are among seven of the top nine to play for one of the five Asian teams in the tournament.
Pakistan is the only unbeaten side in the tournament and with three players in the top nine it fittingly has more players near the top of the standings than any other team.
England all-rounder Samit Patel is a new name near the top of the list after hitting an unbeaten century in the victory over New Zealand in England's opening Super League match.