Bangladesh wins fourth Plate Championship title

Bangladesh defeated New Zealand by 77 runs to win its fourth Plate Championship title at the ICC U19 Cricket world Cup UAE 2014 at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Opener Shadman Islam scored 97 and Litton Das contributed 79 as the two batsmen put on 124 runs for the second wicket to propel Bangladesh to 223 in 47 overs. Off-spinner Mosaddek Hossain then returned figures of 10-4-23-4 as New Zealand finished at 146 for nine after Brett Randell followed up his two for 22 with 51 not out.

Bangladesh had previously won the Plate Championship in South Africa (1998), Bangladesh (2004) and New Zealand (2010).

Shadman, who hit 13 fours in a 113-ball innings, finished with an impressive series aggregate of 406 runs. He leads Imam-ul-Haq of Pakistan by 36 runs, with South Africa captain Aiden Markram occupying third place with 304 runs. Both Imam and Markram will feature in Saturday’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 final which will be broadcast live by Star Sports.

In the fifth/sixth position play-off match, India overcame Tagenarine Chanderpaul’s century to beat the West Indies by 46 runs at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Chanderpaul scored 112 from 136 balls with eight fours and a six as West Indies, chasing India’s mammoth 340 for eight, finished at 294 for eight. Chanderpaul finished the tournament with 293 runs with one century and two half-centuries.

Earlier, Ankush Bains (74), Sanju Samson (67) and Shreyas Iyer (66) batted well to help India post the highest team total of the tournament. For the West Indies, Gudakesh Motie picked up three for 52 and Preston McSween bagged two for 74.

Afghanistan, playing in its third World Cup, finished at an impressive seventh position after defeating Sri Lanka by five wickets at ICC Academy 2. This was Afghanistan’s second big victory in the tournament after it upset Australia by 36 runs. It had also come very close to beating the West Indies before it went down by nine runs.

Usman Ghani took three for 21 and Sayed Shirzad bagged three for 33 as Sri Lanka was bowled out for 114 in 34.3 overs. In turn, Afghanistan raced to victory in under 22 overs for the loss of five wickets with Ihsanullah scoring 37 not out.

Zimbabwe finished 11^th in the 16-team tournament when it defeated host the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 84 runs.

On Friday, England and Australia will clash in the third/fourth position play-off at the ICC Academy 1. At the ICC Academy 2, Pakistan and South Africa will prepare for Saturday’s final and will hold their pre-match media conferences at the ICC Headquarters at 1315 and 1330, respectively. The pressers will be followed by captains’ photo-shoot with the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 trophy