North Sound (Antigua), Feb 1 (PTI) Afghanistan dished out an impressive bowling display to restrict fancied England to 231 for 6 in the first semifinal match of the ICC U-19 World Cup here on Tuesday.
Seeking to script history by making their maiden U-19 World Cup final, Afghanistan continued their strong form with the bowlers producing yet another fine performance in the rain-interrupted match.
As per DLS calculation, the adjusted target for Afghanistan remained 231 in 47 overs.
Noor Ahmad and Naveed Zadran led the attack with two wickets each while Nangeyalia Kharote and Izharulhaq Naveed chipped in with a wicket apiece after England chose to bat first at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Afghanistan had earlier defended 134 against Sri Lanka en route to the semifinals, thanks to an impressive show by their bolwers.
Late fireworks from George Bell (56 not out off 67 balls) and wicketkeepr Alex Horton (53 not out from 36 balls) took England to a reasonable total as the duo smashed 95 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket stand from just 11.5 overs. The Afghan bowlers did not allow the Englishman to settled down with a big partnership. The second wicket stand of 47 between opener George Thomas (50) and captain Tom Prest (17) was the highest stand for England till George Bell and Alex Horton repaired the innings.
The Englishman, who lost opener Jacob Bethell (2) in the fourth over, suffered a top-order batting collapse as they were reduced to 106 for 5 in the 24th over from 56 for 1 in the 10th over.
The Afghans have punched above their weight, having arrived late for the tournament due to visa issues. The ICC had to rework fixtures of Afghansitan’s group matches due to the late arrival.
They were playing for only the second time in the Super League semifinals of the U-19 World Cup, the first being the 2018 edition in New Zealand.
Having lost half of their batters before the halfway mark, England virtually crawled after that with no boundary for eight overs before finding one in the 32nd over.
Runs came in trickles before England made a push in the final 10 overs of the 47-over-a-side match. In fact, they added 90 runs from the final 10 overs to cross the 230-run mark.
Brief Scores: England 231 for 6 in 47 overs (George Bell 56 not out, Alex Horton 53 not out, George Thomas 50; Noor Ahmad 2/32). PTI PDS PDS KHS KHS
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Source: The Print
