KATHMANDU, Aug 16: Nepal faced third consecutive defeat from England on Thursday in the ICC U-19 World Cup by 126 at Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville. With the defeat, Nepal´s hope for the super league has been dashed but will get to play in the Plate Championship.
Winning the toss England opted to bat first and scored 274/7 in 50 overs. Nepal was bowled out in 148 runs losing all the wickets in 46 overs. Nepal will face Sri Lanka in the 9th place play off quarter final on August 20 at WEP Harris Oval, Brisbane.
England started the innings well as it shared 60-run partnership for the first wicket. Daniel Bell Drummond scored 23 runs off 49 balls while Alex Davies scored 45 runs. Ben Foakes hammered 92 runs facing 84 balls which helped England to post good a total.
Foakes paired with Craig Overton for a 47-run partnership for the third wicket. Overton was sent back to the pavilion by Pradeep Airee for 15 runs. Foakes then shared 59-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Aneesh Kapil (13).
Ben Duckett and Sam Wood shared aggressive 65-runs partnership playing 6.1 overs to steer England to a big total. Wood was the sixth English batsman to be removed from the crease for 20 runs off 15 balls. Duckeett was the last English Batsman to be removed from the crease as he scored quick-fire 55 runs facing 33 balls that included six fours and a huge six.
Spinner Rahul BK was the pick of the bowlers for Nepal as he grabbed three wickets in his nine over spell. All the three wickets were of the top order English batsmen. Avinash Karna took two wickets while Pradeep Airee grabbed a wicket.
As in their previous matches, Nepali batsmen gave away their wickets cheaply. Opener Sagar Pun, skipper Prithu Baskota and Naresh Budayair were sent back to the pavilion without scoring a single run. Nepal had lost its five wickets with 25 runs on board. Rajesh Pulami Magar scored one run and Airee scored five in Nepal´s miserable run chase.
A 67-run partnership between opener Subash Khakurel and Hasim Ansari for the sixth wicket gave some relief to Nepal. Nepal´s hope almost ended after the fall of Khakurel on 55 runs off 70 balls. Ansari was the second highest run scorer for Nepal as he scored 35 runs off 74 balls. Rahul BK was unbeaten in 20 runs while Fajlur Rahman scored 10 runs.
England paceman Shozair Ali was the man who destroyed Nepali batting lineup as he finished with four wickets for 37 runs in his 10-over spell. Reece Topley grabbed three in his seven-over bowling conceding 10 runs.
In other matches, India secured its spot in the quarterfinals while Pakistan and West Indies won all the three matches played in Queensland.
India needed a win against Papua New Guinea to stay alive in the tournament and registered 107 runs win. Batting first India was bowled out for 204 in 46 overs at Endeavour Park in Townsville. India restricted Papua New Guinea to 97 runs.
Pakistan finished on top of Group B after a five-wicket win against New Zealand on the Sunshine Coast. New Zealand made 152/8 off 50 overs while Pakistan easily reached the target losing five wickets in 31.2 overs.
West Indies registered six-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the last league match. Batting first Zimbabwe was restricted to 148-8 in 50 overs. West Indies scored 150 runs losing four wickets in 35.1 overs in Townsville. Bangladesh defeated Namibia by seven wickets in Brisbane. Namibia was bowled out for 151 and Bangladesh reached the target in 37 overs losing three wickets.
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