U19 World Cup round-up: Hick takes hat off to Afghanistan

Australia coach concedes his side ‘could have done better’ in their group match, reports Amith Passela.

Mohammad Mujtaba, left, and Ihsanullah scored match-winning fifties for Afghanistan against Australia on Monday. Pal Pillai / Getty Images

ABU DHABI // The Australia coach Graeme Hick saluted Afghanistan’s performance after his side were beaten in the ICC Under 19 World Cup, leaving Group B wide open.

“It was a disappointing game for us today and I thought Afghanistan played good cricket right from the start for their win,” the former England batsman said after his team went down by 36 runs at the Nursery Oval on Monday. “We got the early wicket, but then on this wicket their batsmen put a lot of pressure on our bowlers and we did not respond well.

“With the bat, we struggled a little in the middle of the innings, due to the slowness of the pitches. Yet our guys could have done better, because we have been here long enough.

“I take my hat off to Afghanistan, because they played really well. The partnership up front was really one up for them.

“Our bowlers didn’t execute what we would have liked them to do. They had a lot of boundaries hit in the Afghanistan inning.

“Having said that, we must give credit to the two Afghanistan batsmen who batted very well and put our bowlers under pressure. They ran the ball around well through the middle and put the loose balls away to the boundary.”

Mohammed Mujtaba (75) and Ihsanullah (63) shared a 126-run partnership for the second wicket to set up a strong platform for Afghanistan after Billy Stanlake had removed opener Usman Ghani (2) in the very first over.

The result leaves Bangladesh, who defeated Namibia by 52 runs in the adjoining Nursery Oval-1, on four points with Australia and Afghanistan on two each as they head to the final games in the group stage on Wednesday.

Australia face Bangladesh in a win-or-bust game, while Afghanistan go against fellow Associate member and the winless Namibia in the other.

“That’s the situation now,” Hick said. “We didn’t want to come down to that, but now we have to go out there and win this game. And even then, it is down to the net run-rate.”

The Bangladesh coach Mizamur Rehman remained upbeat after his side stayed unbeaten in two games.

“We are going into this match with a better net run-rate than any other team and we will try to maintain that, even though our objective would be to win against Australia,” he said.

Scotland give world champions India a scare

India suffered a scare on their way to a win over Scotland in Group A on Monday. Chasing 89 for victory in Dubai, the defending champions lost five wickets before middle-order batsman Sarfaraz Khan – a hero in their win over Pakistan on Saturday – scored 45.

Earlier, Scotland struggled against Kuldeep Yadav’s chinamen and Aamir Gani’s off-breaks with both spinners taking four for 28.

In the group’s other game, Pakistan beat Papua New Guinea by 145 runs, also in Dubai.