Australia crush England; Bangladesh, Afghanistan triumph too

Bangladesh and Australia were the comfortable victors in their respective games on Wednesday; whereas Afghanistan overcame USA in their playoff encounter in the ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup 2024.

BANGLADESH BEAT NEPAL IN BLOEMFONTEIN

Toss: Nepal won the toss and elected to bat

Bangladesh dominated the proceedings after being asked to bowl. Nepal showed potential but couldn't match up to the Tigers.

The Rhinos found the going tough against an adept Bangladesh bowling attack. The pacers struck thrice in the first Powerplay before the spinners tangled the Nepal batters around their web in the middle overs to strike regularly and keep the scoring rate in check.

Mohammad Borson and Sheikh Jibon accounted for seven wickets between them to ensure that Bangladesh needed 170 to win.

Jishan Alam's attacking fifty led Bangladesh's effort of gaining a substantial net run rate advantage by finishing the chase early. However, Subash Bhandari's triple strike slowed the Tigers at the start of the second Powerplay.

Ariful Islam's attacking fifty led Bangladesh past the target. Subash managed two more wickets to his name to finish with a five-wicket haul. Borson was the Player of the Match for his 4-19.

AUSTRALIA CRUSH ENGLAND IN KIMBERLEY

Toss: England won the toss and elected to field

A 105-run stand between Harry Dixon and Hugh Weibgen powered the start of Australia's innings.

The following overs were a tussle between Australia’s middle order and England’s spinners led by Theo Wylie.

Weibgen's ton was backed by cameos from Ollie Peake (25* from 28) and Raf MacMillan (19* from 10), as Australia finished strong.

In response, England chose the attacking route early on. This backfired as the accurate Callum Vidler bowled challenging lengths and garnered four English wickets within his first five overs.

Lightning stopped play soon after. It gave way to rain, and there was an extended delay.

England needed 215 for a win after the resumption. Faced with a daunting target, England's chase unraveled as the side lost quick wickets.

They were bowled out for 104.

AFGHANISTAN TRIUMPH OVER USA IN BENONI

Toss: Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field

Afghanistan backed their skipper's call to take the field with a sharp display with the ball. But USA were up to the task, and struck back in the second innings. 

A top-drawer effort from Afghanistan meant that the USA batting never took off. Barring Prannav Chettipalayam (33) and Utkarsh Srivastava (30), no other batter made a significant contribution for the North American side.

Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar (3-30), Naseer Khan Maroofkhil (2/19) and Faridoon Dawoodzai (2/30) helped bowl out USA by the 49th over.

Continuing a running theme of the tournament, Afghanistan got off to a poor start with the bat.

The side lost four wickets before even reaching the 50 runs mark. Skipper Naseer Khan Maroofkhil (39) stabilised the innings for Afghanistan but his dismissal at a crucial stage left the game even stevens.

A resolute 37 from Rahimullah Zurmati helped Afghanistan close out a chase that went to the final over.