U19 World Cup Qualifier Round Up
Canada v Scotland U19 Summery, 28/07/11, North County,
35 overs a side due to rain
Canada Under-19 prevailed in a closely-fought encounter against Scotland Under-19 in Dublin. They were boosted by a century from opener Nitish Kumar, who smashed 11 fours and two sixes in his 93-ball knock. Nitish's partnership of 78 with Kyle Edghill and a quickfire 44 from Rayyan Pathan, off just 24 balls, took Canada to a challenging 212 in 35 overs.
Seamer Jobanjot Singh's early strikes hurt Scotland in their response but the middle order stepped up. Freddie Coleman made a quick 36, Mathew Cross made scored 21 at better than a run a ball, Peter Ross contributed 43 and Aman Bailwal gave Scotland hope by top-scoring with 63. With Bailwal at the crease, Scotland were very much in it but when he fell with the score on 201 in the penultimate over, the lower order didn't last long and the innings folded for 206 with two balls to spare. Jobanjot finished with four wickets.
Scotland v Nepal, 29/07/11, Merrion Cricket Club
Scotland Under-19s eased to a 57-run win against Nepal Under-19s at the Merrion Cricket Club in Dublin. The win was set up by a hard-working 81 from No. 3 Freddie Coleman that lifted Scotland to a moderate score of 214. Run-making wasn't easy, thanks to an incisive spell from Bhuvan Karki that earned him figures of 5 for 41. Nepal's chase was in doldrums early as Patrick Sadler reduced them to 0 for 2 with his first three balls, and they never managed to recover. Captain Prithu Baskota fought hard for 62, before he became Sadler's fourth wicket and the ninth of the innings. Nepal eventually folded for 157 in the 46th over, giving Scotland their first win.
Ireland v Scotland, 30/07/11, The Hills Cricket Club
Scotland Under-19s beat Ireland Under-19s by two wickets with a ball to spare in a hard-fought Duckworth-Lewis encounter at the Hills Cricket Club ground in Dublin. Ireland's No. 3 batsman, Jason van der Merwe contributed 96 to rescue his side from 38 for 3, before a string of handy lower-order contributions lifted the score to 237. Scotland had reached 106 for 3 in 24 overs when rain forced a modification of their target to 206 off 40 overs. Peter Ross played a steady hand, scoring an unbeaten 60 off 71 balls to take them home with one ball to spare.
"Despite the rains, I thought it was an achievable target," said Ross. "I just thought if we keep up with the rate we could be in with a chance. My plan was to keep getting a run a ball. We have such depth in our batting that we can win from any position. This win has done a lot for the confidence of the side and we now need to keep performing to qualify."
Scotland v Papua New Guiniea, 31/07/11, Oak Hills Cricket Club
Scotland Under-19 needed a fine 43-ball 69 from Henry Edwards to take them to a two-wicket win over Papua New Guinea at Oak Hill Cricket Club. The match was reduced to 33 overs a side, and Scotland were left chasing 156 after Peter Legget's three wickets helped them bowl PNG out. Scotland stuttered in the chase and were 67 for 5 before Edwards came to the rescue. PNG seamers Raymond Haoda and Norman Vanua took seven wickets between them, but Scotland got home with 11 balls to spare.
Scotland v USA, 04/08/11, Eglinton
Scotland had it easy against the USA at Eglinton. USA, batting first, was bowled out for a mere 124 in 35.2 overs. The off-spinning duo of Kyle Smith (4-21) and Ross McLean (3-9) spun a web around USA. In the chase Freddie Coleman (60 n.o.: 74b, 7x4, 1x6) along with Peter Ross (40 n.o.) helped Scotland tide over the loss of two early wickets as it reached the target in just 28.2 overs.
Man of the Match Smith was delighted that his plan worked out well on the day: “The conditions and the pitch was similar to the ones we had in Dublin. We knew that they had a few hard hitting batsmen, especially Steven Taylor. We luckily got them to make mistakes. Today was our best all-round performance in the tournament. We are getting into the groove now.”
Afghanistan v Scotland, 05/08/11, New Strabane Park,
Freddie Coleman (63) and Peter Ross (55) played true to form to enable Scotland score 218 against Afghanistan at the New Strabane Park. Yamin Ahmadzai (3-49) and Sayed Shirzad with a spell of 4-33 were the best bowlers for Afghanistan. Afsar Khan Zazai waged a lone battle for Afghanistan with his knock of 84 off 135 balls with six boundaries and a six. Afsar added crucial runs with Najibullah Zadran (37) and with Nasir Ahmadzai (20) but could not take his side to victory as Scotland won by 33 runs.
Afsar’s valiant knock earned him the Man of the Match award, but that did not satisfy him: “We did not get a good start. We lost wickets regularly. I just needed a bit of support and we could have won this game. The pitch aided the seamers a bit and there was some turn for the spinners. We could have chased down the target. The boys are all disappointed. The mission to get to the World Cup is still very much alive. We have to keep playing to our potential.’’
Scotland v Namibia, 06/08/11, Bready CC
Scotland’s U19 cricketers sealed their place in the 2012 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup with victory over Namibia yesterday (6 August) at Bready. In a rain affected encounter the match was reduced to 43 overs.
Scotland elected to bat first after winning the toss. Openers Cross and Maclean put on a fine stand of 83 before both fell in quick succession.
Namibia then took a firm hold on the match when they then dismissed the in-form Ross and Bailwal cheaply and the Scots were in trouble at 97-5. However, Scotland showed real character as Coleman (30) and Luthra (25) added vital runs to get the final total to 180. Stephen Baard finished with figures of 4 for 28 and Van Vuuren’s 3 for 22 helped to restrict the Scots.
Namibia’s reply got off to a terrible start as the Scottish bowlers found their lines to reduce their opponents to 36 for 3. Pelham Myburgh helped to stabilise the innings adding 43 runs.
Scotland pushed for the win and the Namibians’ found themselves behind the run rate as wickets fell rapidly. Ross McLean’s spin returned figures of 3 for 12, with Bailwal claiming 2 for 13 and Sam Page 2 for 33, the Scots took the match and with that claimed qualification for the 2012 ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia.
Scotland v Kenya, Eglinton, 07/08/11
Scotland, turned in yet another disciplined performance against Kenya at the Eglinton Cricket Club. Scotland was struggling at 77 for six at one stage. But the lower order of Scotland led by Anjan Luthra (32), Sam Page (48) alongwith Matthew Cross’ 36 laid the foundation for a modest total of 188.
A rain interruption post lunch, delayed Kenya’s reply. When play resumed, Rushabh Patel (50: 120b, 2x4) and Duncan Allan (43: 66b, 3x4, 2x6) added 83 runs for the second wicket to put Kenya in charge. The fall of Allan’s wicket with the score at 123 changed the course of the match as Scotland applied the pressure brilliantly. Patel fell soon after at the same score. Wickets fell at regular intervals and Scotland snatched a 15-run win.
Cross, in particular, excelled behind the stumps, claiming two catches and stumping Patel.
Cross won the Man of the Match award for his all-round display: “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. When Kenya batted, we felt that one wicket could change the match. (Duncan) Allan fell at the right time for us to fight back. We dried up the runs and the asking rate increased. This was yet another good day for us in the competition.”
With qualification already assured, a victory for Scotland against Vanuatu on Tuesday (9 August) will see them outright winners of the qualification tournament.
