Expected results followed on but the minnows did not go down without fight.

Group A: Australia U19 133/4 defeated Ireland U19 129 by 6 wickets

A captain proving his mettle? Bosisto played crucial role in both the successful run chases for his team.

Australia continued their winning run in the U19 world cup but not without having to fight in each match. Ireland U19 surprisingly opted to bat first after winning the toss. They began well but Gregory’s 3 wickets rattled their top order. Kane, Getkate and McBrine provided some resistance in the middle overs but Cassel and Sandhu cleaned up them along with tail enders in their final spell for a total of 129 runs.

In what was expected to be easy chase for Australian U19 team, Irish bowlers made them to work harder for each run. Highly rated Irish spinner G Dockrell bowled tremendous spell where he conceded just 10 runs from 10 overs and also got a wicket. Australia scored at good pace initially but lost wickets regularly. It was captain Bosisto again who along with Hain took the team safely to win with an unbeaten 5th wicket stand of 59 runs. Australia U19 chased down the target in 40 overs and topped the group A with 6 points.

Group B: New Zealand U19 198 defeated Afghanistan 190/9 by 8 runs.

In a do or die match, Afghanistan U19 team went down after fighting so hard to New Zealand U19, who booked their quarter final place with this win. New Zealand lost three wickets quickly and struggled to score the runs freely after they opted to bat first. O’Dennell and Walsh steadied the ship in their 108 runs 4th wicket stand but once they got out, rest collapsed in an attempt to score quick runs.

New Zealand U19 new ball bowlers bowled superbly as they dismissed five Afghanistan players for just 23 runs in return. Zadran revived the Afghanistan innings with a fighting 69 runs. He along with keeper Khan almost took their team to win but their wickets halted the winning progress for them. Duffy and Quinn took 4 wickets each as Afghanistan U19 team fell agonizingly short of the target by just 8 runs.

Group C: India U19 261/6 defeated Zimbabwe U19 198 by 63 runs

Passi had a dream day in the field as he took 6 wickets and scored 24 runs from just 5 balls.

India U19 opened their account with a resounding win against underdog Zimbabwe U19 in their group B encounter. After been asked to bat first, India were off to a great start. Both the openers scored half-centuries in the 139 runs stand. Once both Chopra and Unmukt Chand got dismissed, India U19 struggled to up the ante with continues loss of wickets. Kamal Passi then blazed 3 sixes and a four in the last five balls of the innings and took India U19 score to 261 runs.

Zimbabwe U19 started their chase as badly as they could by losing all four wickets to sensational Kamal Passi who probably had a great match of his life ever. Chopra gave Lake another chance to bat as he dropped a regulation catch at mid-off. Lake, who took full advantage of it went on to score 118 runs. His last fifty came from just over 3o balls but it was all too late for him and Zimbabwe U19 in the match to make a come back. Kamal Passi came back and took two more wickets in his last spell to finish off with figures of 6/23 from 8.1 overs. Passi was rightly named as player of the match even though Unmukt Chand scored 78 runs and also took 2 wickets. India unlike their previous match, showed great intensity on the field. Also the addition of third seamer in the team proved its effectiveness.

Group D: South Africa U19 359/6 defeated Namibia U19 150 by 159 runs

South Africa U19 continued their dominant run in U19 world cup as they demolished minnows with a massive 159 runs victory. After opting to bat first, openers Kock and Bowes destroyed the opponent bowlers as they looked in killer mode. Both the players went to score centuries and put on a massive 212 runs opening stand. Other batsmens continued from where the openers left and took South Africa U19 to a mammoth score of 359/6 in 50 overs. Namibia U19 were never in the chase and got bowled out for paltry 150 runs.

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