Under-19 World Cup: Australia beat England by six wickets

Australia had an ideal start in their defence of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup here on Saturday when they beat arch-rivals England by six wickets.

Australian Captain Will Bosisto won the toss and elected to bowl on a bouncy wicket at Tony Ireland Stadium.

A fantastic all-round bowling effort from the Australian side saw them restrict the tournament front runners England to 143.

Australia struck early with West Australia's Joel Paris taking out danger-man Daniel Bell-Drummond for a duck. Paceman Mark Steketee then claimed the valuable wicket of Ben Foakes (2).

West Australia's Ashton Turner claimed the wickets of Ben Duckett (15) and Sam Wood (0) with consecutive deliveries, unfortunately missing his hat-trick with the first ball of his next over.

Medium pacer Gurinder Sandhu of Indian origin was well suited to the fast wicket and had a great day with the ball finishing with figures of 9.3-1-27-3.

Australia's run chase got off to a shaky start with the openers James Peirson and Cameron Bancroft falling in the first two overs to a sharp opening spell by the English opening attack.

Bosisto and hard-hitting left-handed batsman Travis Head, however, combined well for a match winning fourth wicket stand, enabling Australia to cruise to victory with 15 overs to spare. Head, who was awarded Man of the Match, hit a solid 57 off 58 balls to combine with Bosisto for a partnership of 93.

Australia play Nepal in their second group match Monday.

In the other matches on Saturday, Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by 109 runs while Bangladesh scored a 25-run win over Sri Lanka.

With agency imputs from IANS.

 

Scores in Brief:

Group B - Pakistan beat Afghanistan by 109 runs, John Blanch Oval, Buderim

Pakistan 253 for six, 50 overs (Babar Azam 75, Mohammad Nawaz 66, Umar Waheed 43 n.o.; Sayed Shirzad 2-43, Yamin Ahmadzai 2-54)

Afghanistan 144 all out, 45.1 overs (Hashmutallah Shaidi 50, Mohibullah Paak 30; Zia-ul-Haq 4-30, Zafar Gohar 2-25)

Player of the match - Babar Azam (Pakistan)



Group C - Zimbabwe beat Papua New Guinea 145, Endeavour Park No 1, Townsville

Zimbabwe 249 all out, 50 overs (Kevin Kasuza 97; Chris Kent 5-45, Ray Haoda 3-43)

Papaua New Guinea 145 all out, 38.1 overs (Sese Bau 34; Matthew Bentley 2-20, Luke Jongwe 2-36, Peacemore Zimwa 2-40)

Player of the match - Kevin Kasuza (Zimbabwe)



Group D - Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by 25 runs, Allan Border Field, Brisbane

Bangladesh 249 for seven, 50 overs (Anamul Haque 101, Asif Ahmed 84; Sanitha de Mel 3-46)

Sri Lanka 224 all out, 48.4 overs (Angelo Jayasinghe 83, Lahiru Madushanka 48; Soumya Sarkar 3-10, Taskin Ahmed 2-44)

Player of the match - Anamul Haque (Bangladesh)



Sunday's fixtures:

Group A - England v Ireland, Endeavour Park No.1, Townsville

Group B - New Zealand v Scoitland, John Blanch Oval, Buderim

* Group C - India v West Indies, Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville

Group D - Bangladesh v South Africa, Allan Border Field, Brisbane



Monday's fixtures:

* Group A - Australia v Nepal, Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville

Group B - Pakistan v Scotland, Kev Hackney Oval, Buderim

Group C - PNG v West Indies, Endeavour Park No 1, Townsville

Group D - Namibia v Sri Lanka, Allan Border Field, Brisbane



* Indicates broadcast matches