Bangladesh and New Zealand reached the Plate Championship final

Bangladesh and New Zealand reached the Plate Championship final in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup UAE 2014 on Tuesday when they comfortably won their play-off matches.

Bangladesh, which has previously won the Plate title in 1998, 2004 and 2010, defeated Zimbabwe by 72 runs while New Zealand recorded a comfortable five-wicket victory over the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Plate Championship final will be played on Thursday at Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

In the Super League fifth/sixth position semi-final, West Indies beat Afghanistan by the skin of its teeth by nine runs. The victory means that West Indies will take on India in the fifth/sixth position match at Sharjah Cricket Stadium and Afghanistan will play Sri Lanka in the seventh/eighth position match at ICC Academy 2 on Thursday.

The features of the 12^th day of the 16-day tournament were fine half-centuries by Mossadek Hossain and Joyraz Sheik of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe’s Luke Jongwe, Fabien Allen of the West Indies, Afghanistan’s Hashmatullah Shaidi and Shahidullah Kamal, and Ken McClure of New Zealand.

Mossadek scored a 66-ball 83 with six fours and a six while Joyraz hit five fours in an 89-ball 58 as Bangladesh scored 265 for six in 50 overs. Zimbabwe, in its run-chase, was restricted to 193 for nine with Luke Jongwe scoring 50.

McClure scored 62 not out off 68 balls with seven fours and one six to help New Zealand overhaul the UAE’s modest score of 140 with just under 20 overs and five wickets to spare.

In the West Indies-Afghanistan match, Allen scored 92 from 94 balls with eight fours and four sixes to lift his side to 215 after it had slipped to two for one and then 42 for four. Allen added 68 runs for the fifth wicket with Tristan Coleman (37) and 52 runs for the sixth wicket with Ramaal Lewis (27).

In turn, opener Shahidullah Kamal contributed 51 (67b, 5×4, 2×6) and Hashmatullah Shaidi scored 52 not out with four fours off 87 balls as Afghanistan was bowled out for 206 in 48 overs. Afghanistan had slipped to 97 for five but recovered to 204 for seven, and, at that stage required 12 runs for victory in 21 balls.

But Ray Jordan picked up two important scalps, finishing with three for 44, as Afghanistan lost its last three wickets in nine balls to be bowled out for 206 in 48 overs.