Bangladesh v Scotland, Under-19 Plate Championship, semi-final

Bangladesh secure spot in Plate final

Wisden Cricinfo staff

March 1, 2004

Bangladesh 197 beat Scotland 106 (Hossain 4-11) by 91 runs
Scorecard

Bangladesh have reached the final of the Under-19 Plate Championship, after overwhelming Scotland for the second time in the tournament. But after winning the toss and choosing to bat, not everything went Bangladesh's way at first. Their batsmen struggled for runs as they were bowled out for 197 with one ball to spare. But that proved to be more than enough as Scotland were restricted to 106 in reply.

Bangladesh now go on to face Australia in the final at Fatullah on Thursday, and on this evidence they will need a vastly improved performance to overcome a side that had been touted as favourites for the main event, until their humiliating defeat against Zimbabwe in the group stages.

The tone for Bangladesh's innings was set by Nafees Iqbal and Naeem Islam, who both contributed 21 runs at a pedestrian pace. With the exception of No. 11 Enamul Haque jnr, who was run out for 4, all of Bangladesh's batsmen reached double figures, but none could go on to score more than 30 - it is a failing that their Test team could relate to.

Scotland's bowlers shared their wickets around, but with an outside chance of a place in the final, their batsmen were unable to rise to the occasion. Nazmul Hossain's pace and Enamul's spin proved too much, and they collapsed to 106 all out, 11 more than they had managed in the group stage earlier in the tournament.

Hossain, who returned figures of 4 for 11 from 6.3 overs, skittled three top-order batsmen in a devastating spell and only a patient 41 from Scotland's impressive captain Kyle Coetzer delayed the inevitable. Enamul, meanwhile, picked up 3 for 31.

Scotland's coach Willie Morton conceded that his team had been outplayed, but warned that Bangladesh faced a sterner test on Thursday. "Bangladesh fielded and bowled very well today," he said, "but they may need to bat better if they are going to beat Australia in the final.

"The tournament has been a good experience for us," added Morton. "Our players have never played on pitches like these or in these sort of weather conditions. It has certainly been very different from Scotland and it has been good for us."

Bangladesh's coach Richard McInnes focused on the need for his batsmen to build bigger individual scores in their next match. "If we bowl as well as we have done in recent matches and our batsmen find form there is no reason why we can't win the final," he said. "Australia will start as favourites but we've never played them before so it's impossible to know for sure. If a couple of our batsmen to score big runs we can win."

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Matches

Bangladesh Under-19s v Scotland Under-19s

Players/Umpires

Kyle Coetzer

Enamul Haque jnr

Nazmul Hossain

Teams

Bangladesh

Scotland

Grounds

Chittagong Divisional Stadium