Ton up Anamul sees off Pakistan

A blitzkrieg hundred from captain Anamul Haque helped Bangladesh Under-19s to sign off their campaign in the ICC U-19 World Cup with a five-wicket victory over Pakistan Under-19s at the Endeavour Park 2 yesterday.
With the success, Bangladesh finished seventh in the tournament. It was their second best finish after they finished fifth in Sri Lanka in 2006 but it was Anamul who hogged the spotlight in the tournament by hitting his second ton. Bangladesh lost to South Africa but beat Sri Lanka and Namibia in the group stage to reach the Cup competition where they suffered defeat against the holders and finalist in the tournament Australia and England in the fifth position play-off match.
Back to the match Anamul smashed five fours and eight sixes during his electrifying 128 off 112 balls innings as Bangladesh reached the 236-run target with 22 balls and five wickets to spare. Anamul shared a 179-run partnership in the second wicket stand with opener Liton Das, who made 53, to make sure Pakistan finished eighth; their worst finish in nine events.
It was Anamul's second century of the tournament after he had scored 101 in the tournament opener against Sri Lanka and he was also the first batsman in the tournament to score two centuries. He finished the event with 365 runs from six matches at an impressive average of 60.83.
Anamul was dismissed with 19 runs still required from 11 overs and two more wickets fell after Anamul but Bangladesh had enough batsmen left to cruise to their win.
Earlier Pakistan had been sent in by Bangladesh and got away to a disappointing start, slumping to 33 for 3 in the eighth over as Dewan Sabbir picked up two early wickets. Mohammad Nawaz (82) led the recovery from Pakistan and there were also useful contributions from Faraz Ali (43) and Shahid Ilyas (44), but their 235 for 8 was insufficient against Anamul and his colleagues.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka defeated Afghanistan by seven wickets to win the Plate Championship final at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.
Batting first after winning the toss, Afghanistan scored 194 for nine in 50 overs and in its chase, Sri Lanka cruised to victory in 39 overs.
This was Sri Lanka's first Plate Championship title while for Afghanistan, it was an excellent achievement after it had finished 16th and last in its debut appearance two years ago in New Zealand.
In the fifth-sixth position play-off match, Sam Wood produced a fine all-round performance--first hit a quick fire 104 and then picked up two wickets-- to help England defeat the West Indies by 13 runs.
In the other match of the day, Scotland defeated Ireland by five wickets to finish 11th.
The final of the tournament between defending champions Australia and India will take place at the Tony Ireland Stadium tomorrow.

SCORES IN BRIEF
PAKISTAN UNDER-19S: 235-8 in 50 overs (Mohammad Nawaz 82, Shahid Ilyas 44, Faraz Ali 43; Taskin Ahmed 3-80, Al-Amin 2-28, Dewan Sabbir 2-38)
BANGLADESH UNDER-19S: 239-5 in 46.2 overs (Anamul Haque 128, Litton Das 53; Ehsan Adil 2-32, Mohammad Nawaz 2-48)
Result: Bangladesh won by 5 wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Anamul Haque.