The only game to face a reduction of overs due to persistent rain, produced the most thrilling contest of the second day of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Dublin, Ireland.
Steven Taylor blast classy 140. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
USA took on Papua New Guinea at the Leinster Cricket Club after rains forced a delayed start. Reduced to 43-overs-a-side, PNG batted first and posted 262 for 6 in its allotted overs. Captain Christopher Kent?s 60 and Lega Siaka?s 73 came in handy for PNG.
USA’s wicketkeeper-batsman Steven Taylor then led the chase for his side. Taylor (140: 120b, 19×4, 3×6) kept up one end even as wickets fell regularly. He finally fell with the score at 207, with 56 runs still to be scored off 46 balls. When all seemed lost, USA’s last pair of Hammad Shahid and Mital Patel added 47 runs to take the match into the climatic final over. Shahid fell finally with four balls to spare to hand PNG a six-run win.
Taylor was named Man of the Match for his brilliant knock. But the top-order batsman was not satisfied as USA lost its second game in a row: ”I would have been happy if I had scored 90 and the side had won. I had planned to stay there till the end and get as many runs as possible. From here on we will have to fight hard to qualify.”
Tomorrow is a rest day in the tournament, action will resume on Sunday, 31 July. On Sunday, USA plays Namibia at North County, Vanuatu takes on Canada at Merrion, Kenya and Nepal go head to head at Railway Union, Ireland plays Scotland at The Hill and Afghanistan takes on PNG at Leinster.
Score summaries (Day Two):
At Leinster Cricket Club: PNG U19 262 for 6, 43 overs (Siaka 73, Kent 60, Amini 44; Patel 4-56)
USA U19 256 all out, 42.2 overs (Taylor 140, Singh 21, Shahid 23, Patel 20; Haoda 3-31, Nao 2-56)
PNG U19 won by six runs
At North County: Ireland U19 212 all out, 50 overs (McBrine 50, McCarthy 47; Ahmadzai 3-56, Shirzai 2-34)
Afghanistan U19 208 all out, 50 overs (Shaidi 46, Sahaq 46, Ahmadzai 42; McCarter 2-53, Coughlan 2-27, Dockrell 2-32)
Ireland U19 won by four runs
At Merrion Cricket Club: Scotland U19 214 all out, 49 overs (Coleman 81, Bailwal 39; Karki 5-41)
Nepal U19 157 all out, 45.3 overs (Baskota 67; Sadler 4-33, Bailwal 2-29)
Scotland U19 won by 57 runs
At The Hills Cricket Club: Kenya U19 215 for 7, 50 overs (Allan 103, Ochieng 73; Aulakh 3-31, Kumar 3-26)
Canada U19 200 all out, 49.1 overs (Shah 51, Dutta 55; Ringera 4-44, Allan 2-41)
Kenya U19 won by 15 runs
At YMCA: Vanuatu U19 125 all out, 46.5 overs (Nipiko 37 n.o., Matautaava 35; Coombe 3-20, Lungameni 2-21, van Vuuren 3-27)
Namibia U19 131 for 4, 25.4 overs (J Baard 37, van Vuuren 40; Samuel 3-46)
Namibia U19 won by six wickets
