ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup Bangladesh 2004
Dhaka, 27 February 2004 - ICC Reports
Uganda claim first win in final match
Uganda beat Canada by five wickets at the M.A. Aziz Stadium in Chittagong
Uganda claimed its first points of the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup with a five wicket victory over Canada at the M.A. Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.
Canada elected to bat after winning the toss and put together a respectable total of 231 as they were all out in the final over. The main contributions came from middle order batsmen Trevin Bastiampillai (40), Karun Jethi (43) and Shaheed Keshvani (65).
The Uganda reply was lead by Martin Ondeko and Hamza Saleh who put on 121 for the third wicket. Saleh was run out for 50 but Ondeko remained at the crease to steer his side home with five wickets in hand. The match concluded in the 47th over with Ondeko unbeaten on 99.
The Uganda opener was named man of the match and claimed he was not disappointed to miss out on a century. "I was playing for the team not for myself and it was just great to win the match," said Ondeko. "Playing cricket is my destiny and I'm really happy that we've won a game and I will savour this match and our experience in the tournament."
Canada coach Franklyn Dennis congratulated Uganda on their triumph. "Uganda played well today and we weren't at our best," said Dennis. "We have learnt a lot during this tournament and the experience will help us to do better in future tournaments."
England victory sets up Ind v Pak semi-final
England beat Pakistan by five runs at the Fatullah District Stadium
Pakistan lost to England by five runs in a gripping climax to Super League Group 2 at the Fatullah District Stadium. The defeat means that Pakistan finished second in the group and will face neighbours India in the semi-final on 29 February. England finished with a maximum six points from three Super League matches and will face West Indies in the second semi-final. For the third match in a row the major contributor to the victory was captain Alastair Cook.
The skipper followed back-to-back unbeaten centuries with 87 vital runs today after his side had been put into bat. Cook and Steven Davies provided England with a solid platform. They had 131 runs on the board when Davies was second man out for 53, lbw to Riaz Afridi. Instead of building on this platform, England rapidly collapsed with Afridi the chief destroyer. The paceman also trapped Cook lbw for 87 and clean-bowled three of the England tail to finish with 5 for 42 from 10 overs. After their promising start, England were all out in the 50th over for 196.
Pakistan had not been troubled in any of their previous matches and the England total looked to be too small a target to defend against their in-form batsmen. But England's seamers made early inroads and Pakistan were reduced to 56 for 4 and then 118 for 8. Zulquarnain Haider lead a spirited fightback, clubbing 44 from 41 balls to set up a thrilling climax. Then with 14 balls remaining and only six runs required for victory he was caught by Davies off the bowling of Samit Patel and England scraped home.
Cook scored over 300 runs in England's three Super League victories and was pleased with an innings that earned him the man of the match award. "I was very happy to get in the runs again today and it was a good day all round," said Cook. "We didn't get as many runs as a team as we would have liked but we bowled well and fielded well and it is great to be in the semi-finals."
Bangladesh complete clean sweep against Ireland
Bangladesh beat Ireland by eight wickets at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium
Bangladesh completed a hat-trick of victories in Plate Championship Group 2 with an eight wicket demolition of Ireland at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium. Both sides were already through to the semi-finals before today's match but the prize for the winners was a match against Scotland while the losers knew they would have to take on Australia.
Ireland opted to bat first in the knowledge that Bangladesh have stuttered when chasing small totals against Canada and Uganda. But Ireland were unable to set a challenging target as Bangladesh's bowlers had a third consecutive good performance. Ireland were all out for 141 in the 47th over with left-arm seamer Nadif Chowdhury the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 14.
This time Bangladesh's batsmen made few mistakes in their reply. Opener Nafees Iqbal at last found form with the bat, hitting 86 not out to guide the hosts to victory for the loss of only two wickets in 30 overs.
Iqbal was named man of the match and was pleased to have made some runs for his team. "It is not about scoring centuries, it is all about winning the match for the team. It was just important today that we won the match," said Iqbal.
Ireland coach Adrian Birrell singled out Iqbal for his batting performance. "All credit to Nafees for a very good innings, he batted very well against us," said Birrell. "I'm not too disappointed with our performance, we just came up against a better team on the day. We will now turn our efforts towards beating Australia and hopefully we may even meet Bangladesh in the final."