DUBAI - Pakistan Under-19s won their fourth match in a row, beating England Under-19s by 47 runs in Sharjah. After Pakistan posted a competitive 241, their left-arm bowlers Zia-ul-Haq and Zafar Gohar took three wickets each to dismiss England for 194.
Asked to bat, Pakistan made a steady start as their top three combined to score 117. Opener Kamran Ghulam scored 53, his first fifty of the series, and Imam-ul-Haq hit 41 before being run-out. However, they lost four wickets for three runs as Imam, Rafay Ahmed, Ghulam and Hasan Raza were dismissed within ten deliveries, leaving them at 127 for 5. No. 5 Saud Shakeel resisted with an unbeaten 55-ball 45 to take them past 200. Useful contributions Saifullah Khan (28) and Gohar, 25 off 9, meant they scored 51 in the last five overs.
England's openers took more than 13 overs to put on 48 before Ghulam broke the stand. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals as their middle-order batsmen couldn't convert their starts into big scores. Once Harry Finch fell for 42 in the 33rd over, Rob Sayer was the only other batsman to put up a fight. They were eventually all out in the 46th over when Zia bowled the last batsman to finish with 3 for 33.
BRIEFS: Pakistan Under-19s 241 for 8 (Ghulam 53, Shakeel 45*, Rhodes 3-43) beat England Under-19s 194 (Sayer 47, Zia 3-33, Gohar 3-38) by 47 runs.