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David Payne chimes in with two wickets as Gloucestershire beat Middlesex

ECB Reporters Network04-Jun-2023Oliver Price produced a telling performance with both bat and ball to guide Gloucestershire to an emphatic seven-wicket victory over Middlesex in an ultimately one-sided Vitality Blast contest at Bristol’s Seat Unique Stadium.The Oxford-born allrounder top-scored with 46 and shared in crucial partnerships of 60 with Miles Hammond and 52 with Zafar Gohar for the second and third wickets respectively as the home side chased down a target of 140 with 10 balls to spare to register their second win in three days.Middlesex have struggled to post big totals in the short format this season and this match was no exception, the visitors struggling to build meaningful partnerships and coming up short on 139 for 9 after being put into bat. Jack Davies hit a defiant unbeaten 46 and Max Holden contributed a valuable 34, but veteran left-arm seamer David Payne claimed 2 for 21 and off spinner Price 2 for 18 as Gloucestershire took wickets at regular intervals to keep a lid on things.Victorious in three of their last four outings, improving Gloucestershire kept alive their hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages, but Middlesex are already down and out, consigned to the foot of the South Group after losing their opening six games.Just as they did against Surrey on Friday night, Gloucestershire restricted their opponents to a below-par total and then managed the chase in a controlled fashion.Promoted to open the innings on the back of his record-breaking 19-ball 50 against Essex last week, Ben Charlesworth has yet to spark at the top of the order, and he was stumped off the bowling of Josh de Caires for 12 as Gloucestershire lost their first wicket with 24 on the board in the fourth over.Also pushed up the order, Hammond made a better fist of things, twice cover driving Blake Cullen to the boundary and then stepping down the track and hitting Thilan Walallawita straight down the ground as the home side advanced their score to 43 for 1 while the fielding restrictions were in place.Cautious beginnings gave way to adventure on the part of Price, the 21-year-old tucking into spinners de Caires and Walallawita to provide Gloucestershire with crucial momentum. The 21-year-old plundered a brace of fours off de Caires in the sixth over and then repeated the feat against Walallawita in the ninth, Gloucestershire reaching the halfway stage of their innings well-placed at 73 for 1.Requiring a further 67 runs at 6.70 an over with nine wickets in hand, Gloucestershire were well served by their second-wicket pair, who accumulated in a controlled fashion to lay the foundations for a successful chase. By the time Hammond squirted a catch to extra cover off the bowling of Luke Hollman, the partnership was worth 60, the Cheltenham-born left-hander having contributed 34 of those from 38 balls with four fours, and the rate remained at just over a run a ball.Within four runs of a maiden T20 50, Price attempted to reach that landmark and win the game with a single blow in the 18th over, only to over-balance and fall to a sharp stumping by Davies. Left to finish things off, Zafar remained unbeaten on 37 from 22 balls, with a six and three fours, while skipper Jack Taylor hit the winning run.Gloucestershire performed at the top of their game to reduce Surrey to 29 for 4 in the powerplay at Bristol 48 hours earlier, but were unable to emulate that feat on this occasion. They began well enough, Payne having Stephen Eskinazi caught at the wicket in the act of driving recklessly and Joe Cracknell hoisting Danny Lamb to square leg as Middlesex lurched to 20-2 in the third over.But the home side then blotted their copybook when Holden, still to get off the mark, was put down at point by Matt Taylor off the bowling of Zafar with the score on 26. He and Pieter Malan advanced the score to a respectable 45 for 2 at the end of the powerplay as the visitors sought to make the most of their good fortune.But Gloucestershire continued to press hard and Price had Malan caught at long-on for a 19-ball 21 and Zafar bowled former team-mate Ryan Higgins for one as Middlesex, struggling to contend with spin from both ends, were reduced to 52-4 in the eighth over.Fortunate to still be at large and determined to make good his escape, Holden led a Middlesex fightback of sorts, partially rebuilding the innings with a restorative fifth-wicket stand of 24 with de Caires. Gloucestershire were already regretting dropping the left-hander when he hoisted Matt Taylor for the first six of the match, and he went on to add a quartet of fours in a progressive innings that yielded 34 from 22 balls.Veteran slow left armer Tom Smith eventually put paid to Holden’s antics, luring him into a trap that saw him hit straight to Price at deep mid-wicket as Middlesex slipped to 76 for 5 in the eleventh.A good deal of responsibility resting on their shoulders, de Caires and Davies ran hard between the wickets and scored at slightly better than a run-a-ball in adding 29 for the sixth wicket. But Gloucestershire stuck to their task and de Caires, having made 18 from 20 balls, hoisted Price to substitute fielder Zaman Akhter at long-on and perished going for the big hit with the score on 105, while Luke Hollman was run out for one by Smith’s throw from deep backward square as Middlesex slumped to 114 for 7 in the sixteenth.Worse followed for the visitors, Tom Helm falling cheaply to the returning Payne, who applied concerted pressure at the death, keeping things tight to further frustrate Middlesex.In danger of running out of partners and forced to take matters into his own hands, Davies batted with real purpose to finish just four runs short of a half century, his 33-ball innings containing 3 fours and a six. Blake Cullen stayed with him long enough to stage a ninth-wicket alliance of 22 in 20 balls, but there was no escaping the strong suspicion that the Londoners had fallen short.

Batter has been out with injury since May; Central Zone squad also named

PTI24-Aug-2022A fit-again Ajinkya Rahane will lead a powerful West Zone side in the Duleep Trophy, which is scheduled to be played in Tamil Nadu from September 8 to 25.It was reported by PTI last Sunday that Rahane, who is recuperating from a groin injury, will make a comeback to competitive cricket at the Duleep Trophy.Rahane has not played competitive cricket since May, when he picked up an injury while turning out for Kolkata Knight Riders at the IPL. He missed the Ranji Trophy knockouts for Mumbai due to injury.Mumbai eventually finished runners-up, and several members of that squad, including internationals Prithvi Shaw and Shardul Thakur, have been picked. Others from Mumbai in the squad include Yashashvi Jaiswal, Shams Mulani, Hardik Tamore and Tanush Kotian.From Saurashtra, veteran pacer Jaydev Unadkat and Rahul Tripathi, who recently made it to national squad for the Zimbabwe ODIs, make it to the West Zone squad.Central Zone also announced their squad, with most of the stars of Madhya Pradesh’s Ranji Trophy winning squad in the side, including Yash Dubey, Shubham Sharma and Kumar Kartikeya. Venkatesh Iyer, who last played first-class cricket in 2020, has also been included.West Zone squad: Ajinkya Rahane (capt; Mumbai), Prithvi Shaw (Mumbai), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Mumbai), Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai), Hardik Tamore (wk; Mumbai), Shams Mulani (Mumbai), Tanush Kotian (Mumbai), Shardul Thakur (Mumbai), Rahul Tripathi (Maharashtra), Satyajeet Bachhav (Maharashtra), Het Patel (Gujarat), Chintan Gaja (Gujarat), Jaydev Unadkat (Saurashtra), Chirag Jani (Saurashtra), Atit Sheth (Baroda)Central Zone squad: Karan Sharma (capt; Uttar Pradesh), Shubham Sharma (vice-capt; Madhya Pradesh), Himanshu Mantri (wk; Madhya Pradesh), Yash Dubey (Madhya Pradesh), Priyam Garg (Uttar Pradesh), Rinku Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Ashok Menaria (Rajasthan), Akshay Wadkar (wk; Vidarbha), Gaurav Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), Venkatesh Iyer (Madhya Pradesh), Deepak Dhapola (Uttarakhand), Aniket Choudhary (Rajasthan), Kumar Kartikeya (Madhya Pradesh), Aditya Sarwate (Vidarbha), Ankit Rajpoot (Uttar Pradesh)

The Federal Government has committed AUD$30 million to the project which will see capacity cut at the venue

Andrew McGlashan15-Dec-2019The WACA has traded off a reduced capacity in a bid to secure the multi-million dollar funding to allow them to redevelop the ground into a boutique multi-purpose venue.On Sunday, it was announced that the Federal Government had committed AUS$30 million to the project. Another AUD$4 million will come from Cricket Australia with the WACA contributing AUD$10 million. The rest is likely to come from the state government, although that has yet to be approved.After the redevelopment, the ground will have a permanent capacity of 10,000 with the ability to increase that to 15,000 when demand allows/ There remains the ambition of hosting men’s internationals although the high profile matches will go to the new Perth Stadium across the river.”The state government has a hierarchy of stadiums and wouldn’t fund this if it was bigger than 15,000, so we thought as a day-to-day need we wouldn’t need that presently. But we have factored in the facilities we’d need,” WACA CEO Christina Matthews said. “It’s absolutely in line for having Test matches against those new countries and the smaller countries.”So many of us have a cherished WACA Ground memory and now we can retain its heritage and rich history, while creating a venue with a strong community focus that has multi-sport, gender equal facilities. This funding commitment will provide an opportunity to utilise the WACA Ground as a boutique ground that complements Optus Stadium.”From a cricket perspective, the WACA will become a high-performance hub in the way Junction Oval in Melbourne and Allan Border Oval in Brisbane are, with New South Wales also in the process of building a new headquarters in Sydney.The Australians trained at the WACA in the lead-up to the first Test against New Zealand. The ground will host five matches at next year’s Women’s T20 World Cup while it continues to be used for Western Australia’s matches, the WBBL and age-group cricket. BBL matches take place at Perth Stadium.Kevin Roberts, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said: “Much like (Justin) Langer and (Dennis) Lillee, the WACA Ground defines the history of cricket in WA. Today’s announcement is an historic moment for the WACA Ground and very significant for Australian Cricket. This investment will revitalise the WACA Ground and ensure that it will continue to serve as the Home of Cricket in WA for many years to come.”Langer, the Australia head coach who played his whole career for Western Australia, added: “I’ve never been shy about declaring how much I love the WACA Ground and the role it’s played in my career. But it’s not just about history, now we can look to the future and know the WACA Ground can continue to be a place where memories are made.”The crowds for the ongoing Test against New Zealand at Perth Stadium have been modest with 19,084 on the opening day, 20,018 on the second and 17,104 on the third although that is partly being attributed to the heatwave conditions which have seen temperatures push above 40C degrees. However, there is more shading available at Perth Stadium which was one of major criticisms of the WACA.It was not an ideal day for the new stadium on Sunday when they had to issue a product recall when concerns were raised about uncooked chicken being present in a wrap served in the food stalls.A message on the big screens at the ground said: “If you have purchased any sandwiches, wraps or salads containing chicken at the stadium today please present back to the outlet of purchase immediately.”

The game ended before the scheduled close of play, when the two teams mutually agreed on a draw with Vidarbha only 11 runs away from an outright victory

Sreshth Shah in Nagpur16-Feb-2019Character, that’s the word used by Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal to describe his team’s attitude after they beat Rest of India on first innings lead in Nagpur to become only the third Ranji Trophy winners to also defend their Irani Cup title.Speaking to the media after their triumph over an RoI side that had three current Indian Test players in Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari – and a middle order comprising of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan – Fazal said it’s that ‘character’ which has defined the team’s success over the past two seasons in domestic cricket. He also said that the way the team’s younger batsmen played in the fourth innings, was a performance beyond their years.”The target they had set was a sporting total,” Fazal said. “But the way we played, the way we approached the innings was credible. The boys showed their character.”It was important to show the character because such targets in such wickets is not easy. The way we approached the game was very good. I was out for a duck yesterday, so I think the way the youngsters adapted around Satish Ganesh, who played really nice innings was commendable.”R Sanjay played nicely, as did Atharwa Taide. They played a very matured innings. We need players in the team who show character. That’s how you build teams. That’s the reason why we are so consistent for last two years.”The game ended before the scheduled close of play, when the two teams mutually agreed on a draw with Vidarbha only 11 runs away from an outright victory. The decision surprised people in some corners. Fazal, however, defended his decision to end the game at that stage.”You’re right, we could’ve gone for the win, but it’s more important to lift the trophy,” Fazal said. ” But actually we were waiting for Ganesh’s 100. Unfortunately, it did not happen.”The wicket was turning, so maybe a new batsman would’ve gone out trying to go for those 11 runs, and our innings would’ve been spoilt. That said, we weren’t thinking negatively, but we were already satisfied having secured the cup by that stage.”Fazal also heaped praise on Vihari – who became the first batsman to hit hundreds in three consecutive Irani Cup innings’ – and Rahane, whose 229-run partnership with Vihari on the fourth day gave RoI an outside chance of winning the contest. He said that the way the two senior India batsmen played in that situation was a tutorial for Vidarbha’s batsmen.”Hats off to those guys. To be 30-40 [46] for 2 and then the way they made a comeback and the kind of innings they played, it was like a schooling for us,” Fazal said. “It was a learning process for us. They played extremely well. The technique with which they batted, they played very straight – no risk. I think we learnt a lot and that showed in our innings.”Fazal, however, said that there were still areas where Vidarbha could improve, come next season, especially in the batting department, but commended the sole centurion from his team, Akshay Karnewar for his effort. His 102 in the first-innings helped Vidarbha reach 425 in response to RoI’s 330 in the first innings.”There are a lot of areas we still need to work hard, like we need to get big scores like Hanuma got in both the innings, the way even Ajinkya played,” Fazal said. “Karnewar, the way he played in the first innings is a top innings from him and I think that’s why he got the Man of the Match as well. I think there are a lot of areas to work, and we will be working on it.”That’s the good sign of a team when you still want to learn and still want to improve. Those are very good signs to be consistent next season.”

South Africa went about trying to secure a 3-0 series whitewash by following up a first-innings score of 426 with four top-order wickets before the close of the second day

The Report by Alan Gardner13-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:41

Moonda: Ideal conditions for debutant Olivier

At least one Sri Lankan enjoyed himself at the Wanderers. The third Test followed a largely predictable path as South Africa went about trying to secure a 3-0 series whitewash by following up a first-innings score of 426 with four top-order wickets before the close of the second day but Nuwan Pradeep’s ferocious four-wicket burst at least gave Sri Lanka something for their tour diary as the Wanderers lived up to its billing as one of the premier arenas for fast bowling.South Africa maintained a grip on the match despite losing their last seven wickets for 88, with Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada picking up a brace apiece to take their combined tally in the series to 31 at 15.03. Bad light brought an early close to the evening session, with Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal having battled through several overs of insistent probing as the clouds closed in above the ground. Sri Lanka’s hopes of respectability will lie with their two senior batsmen.They needed their top order to show steady heads after Pradeep and his whirling limbs had brought Sri Lanka back into the contest by taking 4 for 1 in 18 balls before lunch but Philander reinforced South African conviction that they had established a match-defining position with his first over with the new ball. Dimuth Karunaratne survived a review for caught behind to his third delivery but made certain of his fate two balls later when some seam movement from Philander’s immaculate line drew a clearly discernible edge to Quinton de Kock.Kaushal Silva and Kusal Mendis survived the odd streaky moment to reach tea but both fell soon after to Rabada. Another thin edge behind did for Silva to end a 47-run stand before Mendis, who struck six fours and a six and also saw the debutant Duanne Olivier put down a straightforward caught-and-bowled chance during a lively knock, was chiselled out by Rabada’s bouncer, a simple catch lobbing off the gloves to gully. In the next over, Dhananjaya de Silva speared a drive point as Sri Lanka subsided to 70 for 4.

SA collapse and Pradeep’s four-fers

• 88-7 South Africa’s score on the second day. They began at 338 for 3 and were all out for 426. They scored those runs at rate of 2.57, compared to 3.75 on the first day

• 6 Number of four-wicket hauls for Nuwan Pradeep, without a five-for. Only Australia’s Wayne Clarke, with seven, has taken more such hauls in Tests.

• 68.54 Percentage of South Africa’s runs that came from the single partnership of Hashim Amla and JP Duminy, 292 out of 426 – the third-highest contribution from a partnership in an all-out innings for South Africa. The highest for them is 70.77%, when Alviro Peterson and Amla made 209 out of a total of 296 at Eden Gardens in 2009-10.

• 33 Wickets taken by Sri Lanka fast bowlers in this series – the second-most for them in any away series. Their highest is 41 wickets in New Zealand in 1990-91.

Success for the home quicks was not unexpected after Pradeep had gambolled in to cause havoc during the morning. South Africa’s position was already bulwarked by the 292-run stand between JP Duminy and Hashim Amla but any hopes they had of batting on at their leisure disappeared amid a clatter of wickets in the second hour.De Kock was the only South Africa batsman to make a notable contribution to the scorecard after the two first-day centurions and he was last man out as the persevering Lahiru Kumara also finished with four wickets. Following a slide of 4 for 14, with Pradeep on the rampage, De Kock’s 34 helped swell the total to still-daunting proportions: only once in home Tests have South Africa lost after making 400 in the first innings.The sight of the ball seaming, swinging and flying through with a hungry cordon awaiting was double-edged for Sri Lanka, foreshadowing as it did another searching examination for their batsmen. The first session was nevertheless one to savour for the tourists, arguably their best during a difficult series, as Pradeep’s interventions caused South Africa to tumble from 364 for 4 to 378 for 8 in a rambunctious 30-minute period of play.South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis – who was hit several times during his stay at the crease – may have spent lunch reflecting with satisfaction on his decision to get runs on the board first. This surface looked like only getting more treacherous to bat on.Even if the odds were stacked against Sri Lanka, after a dispiriting first day in which South Africa made 338 for 3, Suranga Lakmal and Mathews began with just the sort of tight, probing spells needed if they were to wrest the match back their way. Amla and the debutant nightwatchman, Olivier, had added just eight to the total in as many overs, during which ball regularly beat bat, when Mathews finally made an incision, with the aid of DRS. Olivier pushed at a rising ball in the channel and tickled a fine edge to Chandimal.The first hour was a cagey affair, as Amla attempted to retrench himself after marking his 100th Test with a revivifying hundred. Only 26 runs came, Olivier went and it could have been even better for Sri Lanka but for Mendis making an awful hash of taking a thick edge from du Plessis that looped to second slip, only to squirm from his grasp inches above the ground.Lakmal was the unlucky bowler on that occasion and figures of 7-4-9-0 were scant reward for a spell of controlled away swing. Pradeep had no such complaints, however. In humid conditions and with the pitch having seemingly quickened up overnight, he proceeded to rip through South Africa’s middle order.Du Plessis, who had been worked over by several blows to the body, enjoyed a let-off on 1 but was taken at the second time of asking by Mendis when Pradeep had him fending at a back-of-a-length delivery. Two balls later, Temba Bavuma reached for an ill-advised drive only to see Silva snap up a sharp, overhead chance at third slip, extending a poor series for South Africa’s No. 6.There was more to come, too, as Pradeep feasted on the Bullring’s famed pace and bounce. Amla was squared up by a beauty and Chandimal threw himself bodily to his right to cling on one-handed in front of slip; then Philander, having successfully reviewed a caught-behind off Kumara when his glove came off the handle, was removed by an absolute snorter that leapt from a length to take his thumb before settling in Chandimal’s gauntlets once again.De Kock and Wayne Parnell chanced their arm to good effect in adding 46 for the ninth wicket to stave off a complete collapse and take South Africa past 400. Pradeep was denied a maiden Test five-for when Karunaratne, the lone slip, could not hold on to diving chance to his left with Parnell on 21 but he was dismissed in the following over when he carved a square drive off Kumara straight to deep point. De Kock then fell in similar fashion two overs later, slicing a cut with only Rabada for company.

Mohammad Shahzad cracked 74 off 37 deliveries to set up an eight-wicket win for Afghanistan over United Arab Emirates

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Shahzad cracked 74 off 37 deliveries to set up an eight-wicket win for Afghanistan over United Arab Emirates. Asghar Stanikzai and Samiullah Shenwari shut out UAE completely with an unbeaten 69-run stand in seven overs as Afghanistan chased down 165 with 16 balls to spare.Shahzad and Nawroz Mangal put Afghanistan on their way with a 43-run opening stand in four overs. By the time Shehzad holed out to long-off in the 11th over trying to hit his sixth six, Afghanistan had raced to 99.UAE’s batting had crumbled in their opening match against Scotland, but this time, they posted a competitive 164 for 6 after winning the toss. It was their bowling that proved no contest for Afghanistan.Shahzad powerfully cut the first ball of the chase, a short and wide one from Mohammad Naveed, for four. UAE’s seamers continued to bowl short and provide width, and Shahzad punished them for boundaries. He then slog-swept and stepped out repeatedly to lift the spinners for sixes. UAE’s fielding failed to support their bowlers, with misfields and a dropped chance off Stanikzai adding to the pressure.Stanikzai and Shenwari took over after Shehzad’s departure. Stanikzai kept the sixes coming to end on 44 off 33, while Shenwari carved fours through off to finish with 30 off 23.UAE’s openers Faizan Asif and Mohammad Shahzad had given them a solid start with a stand of 63 inside seven overs. But the introduction of Mirwais Ashraf sent back the openers and also slowed down the scoring. Swapnil Patil ran himself out cheaply and Shaiman Anwar fell to Hamid Hassan in the 17th over after looking good for his 35 off 25. Despite some late hitting, UAE finished on a par score when they could have managed more.

USA’s Under-15 squad claimed first place on Saturday at the 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division Tournament held in Winnipeg, Canada

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2011USA’s Under-15 squad claimed first place on Saturday at the 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division Tournament held at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Canada. USA started off the tournament with back-to-back wins against Bermuda and Canada and eventually won the tournament on a net run-rate tiebreaker after all three teams finished 2-2 in the double round-robin format event.”It feels great. It’s amazing,” USA U-15 captain Dave Parikh said. “This is just the second time I’ve been captain of a team and we came through. We were the underdogs in this tournament and coming up through the top is great.”Parikh was named Tournament MVP after leading his side with seven wickets while giving away a tournament low 2.63 runs per over. He was the team second-highest scorer with 108 runs, including 67 not out in a victory over Canada, one of four half-centuries scored by USA. He was one of six players on the team who also represented the North West U-15 squad at the 2011 USACA U-15 National Tournament, where the North West took their fourth straight U-15 national championship after a dramatic five-run win against New York in the final, something that Parikh feels helped prepare players for success in Winnipeg.”The most important thing I learned from that match was to have faith in your players and to never give up,” Parikh said. “I honestly thought that match was finished, that New York would have won the match, but we came through.”Vibhav Altekar, who scored a double-hundred for North West in the national tournament last month, led USA with 140 runs from four innings with one half-century to finish second overall behind Canada’s Abrash Khan. Neil Tagare, another player selected from the North West region, turned in the highest individual score for any player at the event with 79 against Bermuda. Another noteworthy performer for USA was Michigan’s Gordon Makin, who made a superb 65 in a loss to Bermuda.Khan and Gayan Ferdinands stood out as ones to watch in the future for Canada with Ferdinands taking a tournament-high 12 wickets. Bermuda’s Delray Rawlins also showed excellent all-rounds skills at the top of the batting order along with his left-arm orthodox spin.At the same U-15 tournament in 2009, Steven Taylor and Nitish Kumar captained the USA and Canada squads respectively. Both players have gone on to excel at the U-19 level and have also played for their country’s senior teams. Parikh says he’s gained confidence from being part of a winning squad for USA and hopes he might be able to progress in the same way.”After coming off as the underdogs and winning this, I feel like I have a strong future in cricket,” Parikh said. “I think that I should really put some effort in for the Under-19s, try out, play my hardest and really see what I can do for that team.”

A round-up of the eighth match-day of the ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2011Scotland Under-19s beat Kenya Under-19s by 15 runs in a low scoring match at Woodvale Road, Eglinton, to stay at the top of the points table. After choosing to bat, Scotland were in trouble at 77 for 6 before a 65-run partnership between Anjan Luthra and Sam Page revived the innings. Page, who top scored with 48 built another handy stand with Kyle Smith as Scotland reached a respectable 188. The only substantial contributions in Kenya’s chase came from opener Rushabh Patel – who scored 50 – and No. 3 batsman Duncan Allan, with 43. The pair added 83 for the second wicket, but once they were dismissed in consecutive overs, the chase faltered, with Kenya managing only 173 for 8 in their 50.Wicketkeeper Mathew Cross, who had been the lone performer among Scotland’s top order and was part of five dismissals in the fiels – including those of Patel and Allan – was named Man of the Match. “We would have been happy with a score of 210-220, but still, to reach 188 after being six down early on was a big effort,” Cross said. “When Kenya batted, we felt that one wicket could change the match. Allan fell at the right time for us to fight back. We dried up the runs [after that] and the asking-rate increased.”At Lodge Road, Coleraine, Nepal Under-19s beat Papua New Guinea Under-19s by 29 runs and moved into the second spot on the points table. Batting first, Nepal scored 277 for 7, driven by a fluent 91 from Rajesh Pulami Magar. Magar’s knock, which included eight fours and a six, was cut short when he was run out by PNG keeper Dogodo Bau. Opener Sagar Pun and Pradeep Airee also scored half-centuries as Nepal finished with 277 for 7. Vagi Oala and Christopher Kent were the main contributors in the chase, scoring 64 and 80 respectively. However, a penetrative spell from left-arm fast bowler Avinash Karn – he picked up a five-for in 6.3 overs – made sure PNG were always behind, eventually folding for 248 with three balls to spare.Magar, who was named Man of the Match, said his team was wary of PNG replicating their successful chase against Canada in the previous round of matches. “We lost a few wickets early on, so I had to stay at the wicket and build a partnership,” he said. “PNG chased down Canada’s score of 266 yesterday and we were a bit wary of their ability to chase the score. But our bowlers bowled brilliantly and restricted them very well.”Canada Under-19s eased to a five-wicket win against USA Under-19s at the Bready Cricket Club No2 Ground, Magheramason. Asked to bowl, Canada shot out USA for 101 in 40.3 overs, courtesy a six-wicket haul from opening bowler Manny Aulakh. The chase was steered by a rapid 42 from Rayyan Pathan, who struck five sixes in his 42 off 29 balls. Though USA managed to pick up five wickets, Canada were never stretched, getting home with 16.4 overs to spare.Aulakh, the Man of the Match, said the pitch assisted the quicks. “There was something in the pitch for the fast bowlers. We stuck to the basics and they [USA] made a few mistakes. This was one of my best spells.”At the Bready Cricket Club Afghanistan Under-19s registered a comprehensive nine-wicket win against Vanuatu Under-19s. Afghanistan justified their decision to bowl, running through Vanuatu in 26.2 overs. The attack was led by left-armer Sayed Shirzad, who claimed 5 for 38 in nine overs. He was well supported by Yamin Ahmadzai and Abdul Naseri, who picked up two apiece. Chasing 112, Afghanistan lost an early wicket, but were solid thereafter with Javed Ahmadi and Hashmatullah Shaidi knocking off the target at over seven runs an over.Man-of-the-Match Shirzad said Afghanistan were pumped up as it was a must-win match for them. “It was do or die for us, we had to win to stay in the hunt,” he said. “I bowled wicket to wicket and that paid rich dividends.”Ireland Under-19s‘s match against Namibia Under-19s at New Strabane Park was washed-out after only eight overs. The match will be replayed on Monday. Ireland need a win to regain the second spot on the points table.