ICC U19 World Cup: England beat Pakistan by 5wkts in warm-up

By Nadene Smith

BRISBANE (TheSportsNext) August 7, 2012: England U19 cricket team defeated Pakistan U19 cricket team by five wickets in their warm up match played at Brisbane on Tuesday.

Batting first, Pakistan scored daunting 281 runs for the loss of six wickets from their 50 overs, thanks mainly to a gritty century by Saad Ali (100 from 92 – 8 fours, 1 six) while Imam-ul-Haq (79 from 116- 4 fours) also exhibited good form with the bat. A late flurry of boundaries by Usman Qadir (31 not out from 18 – 3 sixes) and Salman Afridi (22 not out from 19 – 1 four) helped the team to a formidable total.

England U19 cricket team completed the target from just 44 overs as opening batsman DJ Bell-Drummond (91 from 78 – 10 fours, 1 six) and Ben Foakes (133 from 119 – 14 fours, 5 sixes) played a central role.

Pakistan U19 will take on Papua New Guinea in their second and final warm-up game scheduled on August 8, 2012 before taking on Afghanistan in their first match of the ICC U19 World Cup on August 11, 2012.