Canada won their final match of the U19 World Cup, avoiding a last place finish in a close game with Papua New Guinea. A sixth wicket partnership between Yug Rao and Stephan Joseph took Canada to 169 all out after 44.1 overs. PNG fell to 105/6 but recovered to 150 without further loss before the last four wickets fell for 8 runs. Canada won by 11 runs.
Clearly Canada did not make a dream start in this game if a progressive total of 148/5 included a century partnership. Canada won the toss and elected to bat. Opening bat Sudeepta Aurka was caught off left-arm pacer Nosaina Pokana for 1 and captain Nitish Kumar was caught at the wicket next ball off Pokana to leave Canada 7/2 after 2.2 overs. Nikhil Dutta was caught at the wicket off right arm seamer Alei Nao for 3 and it was a sorry looking 12/3 from 5.1 overs from a Canadian perspective. Rao and Talha Shaik began a recovery that ended when Shaik was lbw to Riley Hekure for 8 to end a stand of 24. Vasu Shah was then caught at the wicket after notching two runs and half the Canadian side was out with just 40 on the board.
Stephan Joseph was caught by Hekure off Sakavai Gebai for 58 to end the 37th over. Joseph hit 3 boundaries and two sixes in his 86-ball innings. The stand between Joseph and Rao added 120 runs. Opening bowler Pokana then had Trevor Manoosingh caught at the wicket for a duck. Gebai then bowled Yug Rao for 77 to end the 39th over and Farhan Malik was caught off Pokana to end the 40th over with Canada on 163/9. Last wicket pair Keenen Tinto and Amanpal Gillar were left with ten overs to bat out and try to advance the Canadian total towards the 200 mark. But the innings ended on 169 after 44.1 overs. Yug Rao made 77 runs from 105 balls. His innings included seven boundaries
Papua New Guinea, lead by Kiplin Doriga’s 33 off 22 balls, were 42/1 from 9 overs at lunch. Canada used a mix of spinners, who were economical, and a couple of overs of pace that conceded most of the runs. Doriga was bowled by Nikhil Dutta. Dutta continued an excellent spell with a second wicket having Joseph caught. A run out left PNG 65/3 after 20 overs. Farhan Malik chipped in with two wickets to leave the match evenly poised with PNG 105/6. Bau and Varu however appeared to be putting together a match-winning partnership, and PNG reached 150 without further loss. Dutta made the crucial breakthrough, having Nao caught, and the rest of the wickets fell quickly to give Canada a narrow win. Dutta took 3/27, and Farhan Malik 3/20.
Scorecard