Under 19 World Cup Day 10 – Ireland, UAE win low scoring thrillers

Ireland and UAE advanced to the semi-finals of the plate league after wins over Canada and Uganda, respectively

Ireland U19s (179 ao, le Roux 83*, Gibson 3/36) beat Canada U19s (85 ao, Sharma 19, Wilson 3/18) by 94 runs

Despite a low first innings total, Ireland were comfortable winners in their plate quarter-final match against Canada and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad.

Canada won the toss and elected to field. Nathan McGuire got Ireland away with a pair of boundaries in the first two overs. Parmveer Kharoud struck in the 3^rd over to remove David Vincent for 1. Canada struck again in the 4^th over, with Ethan Gibson removing Joshua Cox for 5 to leave Ireland 19/2. Gibson later removed McGuire to put Canada firmly on top at 34/3.

Despite early wickets, Ireland continued to try to score quickly, with captain Tim Tector and Philipp le Roux building a partnership. Tector was dismissed by Sheel Patel, and Scott MacBeth shortly afterwards to Gurnek Singh, as 67/3 quickly became 70/5.

Although le Roux had settled in, Ireland struggled to build partnerships around him, and the Canadians continued to chip away. Kairav Sharma and Gibson struck in consecutive overs, as Ireland found themselves 90/7 in only the 22^nd over. Batting at number 9, Jamie Forbes offered crucial resistance, his 25 came as part of a 48-run 8^th wicket stand with le Roux.

Ireland’s tail pushed on, as le Roux passed his half-century. Muzamil Sherzad fell for 13, and Reuben Wilson last man out for 1. Ireland were eventually dismissed for 179, with le Roux stranded on 83 not out.

With a low total in their sights, the Canadians set out conservatively in pursuit of their 1^st win. However, 15-year-old Reuben Wilson quickly snared both Canadian openers with impressive swing. Ireland’s Liam Doherty added a 3^rd wicket in the 5^th over, and Canada were on the back foot at 12/3.

Canadian skipper Mihir Patel and Gurnek Singh resisted the remainder of the new-ball spell. The partnership was broken in the 12^th over when Patel fell to Sherzad. Nathan McGuire dismissed Singh shortly after, and Sahil Badin could add only one before falling as Canada slumped to 51/7.

Sharma and Sheel Patel were able to offer token resistance, but when Sharma fell to Jamie Forbes first ball of the day, the writing was on the wall. Wilson and Forbes took the final two wickets to bowl Canada out for 85, wrapping a comfortable 94-run win.

UAE U19s (127/9 (40.3 overs), Smith 25, Musinguzi 3/21) beat Uganda U19s (123 ao, Lutaaya 25, Shetty 4/29) by 1 wicket

UAE survived a thrilling contest against Uganda at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad, as their tail dug out a battling win.

Uganda won the toss and elected to bat, and made a steady start, with Ronald Opio and Fahad Mutagana seeing off the new-ball spell. UAE brought on Adhitya Shetty in the 11^th over, and were rewarded in two balls with the wicket of Opio. Three overs later, Nilansh Keswani took a double strike, removing Mutagana and Asaba to leave the score 39/3.

Roland Lutaaya and Ugandan captain Pascal Murungi set about their work, lifting the score to 74/3, before Murungi was caught behind off Shetty for 23. Having battled to 25, Lutaaya was run out in the 26^th over to leave Uganda five-down. Sheety further removed Pius Oloka for a duck, and later removed Joseph Baguma as Uganda collapsed to 95/7. Shetty finished with 4/29 from his 10 overs.

Contributions from Cyrus Kakuru (18) and Edwin Nuwagaba (12) helped Uganda to 123, but both fell to Aayan Khan as Uganda were bowled out in under 40 overs.

With 124 to chase, UAE looked strong favourites, and started positively with Kai Smith and Dhruv Parashar, reaching 42/0 after 10 overs. Smith was bowled by Yunusu Sowobi for 25 in the 11^th over. Alishan Sharafu was next in and made 14 lifting UAE to 61/1 to put them ahead of the game.

But Uganda fought back, as Matthew Musinguzi and Baguma struck twice each in 4 overs to reduce the score to 62/5. Musinguzi added a 3^rd in the 22^nd over, with Ronak Panoly stumped and Uganda ahead with 70/6. Baguma, too, added a 3^rd wicket, bowling Ali Naseer for 4.

Needing 42 to win, with three wickets in hand, UAE brought Soorya Sathish and Aayan Khan together at the crease. And with Baguma and Musinguzi having bowled their allocated overs, the Emerati batters found runs easier to come by. Khan battled to 22, before being caught behind off Nuwagaba at 110/8. Sathish was bowled by Nuwagaba two overs later.

The equation was simple: UAE needed 9 to win, Uganda needed 1 wicket. Number 10 batter, Adhitya Shetty struck two fours off Sowobi to level the scores.

Faced with Nuwuguba’s off-breaks, last man Jash Giyanani survived two balls in the 41^st over, before hitting the 3^rd to the boundary to secure a one-wicket win.

UAE and Ireland advance to the Plate semi-finals, whilst Canada and Uganda will play in the 13^th-16^th bracket.

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