EAST LONDON – Pakistan’s U19 cricket team secured the third consecutive victory in the ongoing ICC Men’s U19 World Cup by beating New Zealand by 10 wickets in East London on Saturday.
After beating Afghanistan U19 (by 181 runs) and Nepal U19 (by five wickets) in the previous two games, Pakistan finished the group stage unbeaten.
Pakistan’s opening duo of Shahzaib Khan and Shamyl Hussain mowed down the meagre 141-target with great ease, getting over the line in 25.2 overs. Shahzaib was more attacking of the two batters, exhibiting sparkling strokeplay with ten boundaries and three maximums in an 86-ball 80 not out.
Shamyl, meanwhile, bided his time in the middle initially, scoring just 12 in the Powerplay before he picked up pace as Pakistan neared the target. Shamyl struck six fours and two sixes in his undefeated 54 off 66 deliveries, providing able company to Shahzaib’s masterclass at the other end.
New Zealand’s decision to bat first was rendered ill-fated when Ubaid Shah bowled an excellent spell with the new ball to cause early damage. Luke Watson’s off-stump went cartwheeling off a ripper from Ubaid in the third over of the innings. This blow was followed by Tom Jones’ (14, 26b, 3x4s) and Snehith Reddy’s (7, 10b, 1×4) departure with Ubaid’s brilliance leaving New Zealand three down for 28 in seven overs.
Mohammad Zeeshan struck in the 16th over to see the back of New Zealand U19 captain Oscar Jackson for 12. Lachlan Stackpole (42, 37b, 7x4s, 1×6) and Oliver Tewatiya (29, 55b, 4x4s) stitched a 61-run fifth-wicket partnership to apply brakes to New Zealand’s slide but Naveed Ahmed Khan found the breakthrough to trigger a massive collapse.
New Zealand crashed from 117-4 to 140 all out in 38 overs with none of the lower-order batters able to put up a solid fight. Arafat Minhas, backing up his frugal outing against Nepal U19, found tremendous success again with three wickets for six runs in five overs including two maiden overs.
For the second time in the tournament, Shahzaib Khan was named player of the match for his heroic knock. Pakistan U19, by finishing on top of Group D, will play the second and third-placed teams of Group A in the Super Six round. They will first play A3 in Potchefstroom on 30 January before taking on A2 in Benoni on 3 February.
