England U-19 team made it to the semi-finals of the ICC Under-19s Cricket World Cup defeating defending champions India by three-wickets in Dubai on Saturday.
England over came the target set by India with five balls remaining thanks to Ben Duckett, who scored 61, and Joe Clarke, with a crucial 42, who took England on the brink before skying a catch to Vijay Zol of Kuldeep Yadav’s bowling.
Chasing 222 for a place in semi-final England started poorly as they were struggling at 3/41 inside first 11 overs. But, then the pair of Ben Duckett and Ed Bernard put on a vital 76-run for the fourth wicket.
Just when it looked England will stroll in this run chase, Kuldeep Yadav, left-arm chinamen, brought India back into this match by picking up dangerous Duckett, but not before the Yorkshiremen had scored 61 vital runs. He was caught by Vijay Zol off Yadav’s bowling as India took charge of the match. When Duckett was dismissed England were 5/138 still needing 84 to win.
Skipper Will Rhodes disappointed his team in this match when on personal score of 10 runs he misread a Yadav delivery and was clean bowled.
At this stage, India were well on their way to semi-final, but a crucial 51-run partnership by Joe Clarke (42) and Rob Jones (28) tilted the match in favour Three Lions, as England kept their cool in a tense run-chase to romp home by three-wickets.
Earlier, the defending champions India won the toss and scored a decent 8/221 in their 50 allotted overs.
However, at one stage India’s top order was blown away by Matthew Fisher and were reeling at 4/24 in the ninth over.But, captain Vijay Zol (48) joined hands with Deepak Hooda (68) to take India to safer shores with a crucial partnership of 87-runs for fifth wicket.
The Men in Blue then kept losing wickets at regular intervals in search of quick runs but a late surge from Sarfaraz Khan, who smashed 52 not out, propelled India to a respectable total of 221.
For England, fast bowler Matthew Fisher, who was the pick of the bowlers, returned with figures of 3/55 in his 10 overs, while Rob Sayer, Jake Winslade and Ryan Higgins each chipped in with a wicket of their own.
In the other quarter-final on Saturday, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka comprehensively by 121 runs to book their place in semi-final, where they will take on England. Skipper Sami Aslam (95) and Imam ul-Haq (82) were the chief protagonist as the pair put on 177-run partnership for the first wicket, which effectively put Sri Lanka out of the game.
