England’s Young Lions came out on top against Afghanistan in the Super League Semifinal 1 of the ICC U19 World Cup 2022 on February 1. The Afghans went deep into their run-chase in the rain-marred 47-over fixture in Antigua but failed to reach deciding match of the tournament, mostly due to their untimely stutters with the bat.
Chasing a target of 232 in the second half, Afghanistan could respond with only 215/9 in their allotted overs with the bat and suffered a painful 15-run loss to crash out of the competition. Losing wickets in the bunch hurt them very badly and ended their hopes of securing a spot in the tournament’s summit clash.
Despite losing opener Nangeyalia Kharote very early in the piece without him opening his account, Afghanistan made a promising surge towards the target due to a 93-run second-wicket partnership between wicketkeeper Mohammad Ishaq and Allah Noor.
While Ishaq made a fighting 43 off 65 balls, Noor made a half-century (60 off 87) to lay a foundation to Afghanistan U19’s quest.
However, just when it seemed that the Afghans might be on their way to creating history, they lost Ishaq, which kickstarted a mini-collapse in the middle-order. His wicket was followed by those of captain Suliman Safi for a duck and the big scalp of Noor. Suddenly, from 94 for 1, Afghanistan were now 106/4, and England were well back in the contest.
But to raise the Asian rivals’ hopes, Abdul Hadi (37*) and Bilal Ahmad (33) made vital thirties. This was soon followed by an important twenty from lower-order bat Noor Ahmad (25). Afghanistan now found themselves 212/6 in 45 overs, with an outside chance to fetch the glory in the coming two overs.
However, their hopes vanished by every moment from there on, as they suffered a lower-order collapse to lose three quick wickets and added just five more runs to their total by the end of the 47th over. For England, the hero of this collapse was legspinner Rehan Ahmed, who was expensive on the day but returned with a mighty important four-fer (4/41) off his six overs.
Earlier in the innings, tight spells from Joshua Boyden (1/23), Tom Prest (1/39), Jacob Bethell (0/26) and Thomas Aspinwall (2/37) kept England in the contest, never allowing Afghanistan to get away. England’s collective bowling effort allowed them to evade a potentially embarrassing upset and book them a ticket in the final.
The first half of the game saw England find themselves in a spot of bother at 136/6 despite opening batter George Thomas‘ half-century (50). But just when the chips were down, England U19s found two heroes in the lower middle-order in George Bell (56*) and Alex Horton (53*).
With their pivotal unbeaten fifties, the duo ensured no further hiccups and a reasonably competitive score on the board for their side.
Afghanistan will be a touch disappointed that their stronger suit, the bowling, allowed England to recover from the troubled waters when the match could easily have been in their grasp. Ahmad (2/32) and Izharulhaq Naveed (1/37) were the pick of their men with the ball in hand.
But once Bell and Horton got going, Afghanistan needed someone to break open things once again and tilt the scales back in their favour. That didn’t happen, and it meant extra pressure on their batting in the second half.
Brief scores
England U19 231/6 in 47 overs (Bell 56*, Horton 53*; Noor Ahmad 2/32) beat Afghanistan 215/9 in 47 overs (Allah Noor 60, Ishaq 43; Ahmed 4/41) by 15 runs
