Towhid, Afif power U-19s

A hundred from Towhid Hridoy and a brilliant all-round performance by Afif Hossain steered Bangladesh as the young Tigers cruised to victory against a stubborn Canada in their ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup encounter at Lincoln, New Zealand yesterday.

The 66-run win, which followed some easy sailing against Namibia in their opening Group-C game, took Bangladesh straight through to the quarterfinals with a match in hand.

Saif Hassan's troops will play their last group-stage fixture on January 18 against England, who beat Namibia by eight wickets in their first group match yesterday at the John Davies Oval in Queenstown.

After a couple of hiccups early on, Hridoy and Afif batted brilliantly in tricky conditions that allowed Bangladesh to post a challenging 264 for eight before the side went on to display some disciplined bowling. Hridoy's scintillating 122 came off of 126 balls, featuring nine fours and a six, but was not enough to clinch the best player award as Afif stole the show. The all-rounder struck a 59-ball 50 before scalping five wickets for 43 runs with his off-breaks in the second innings to become the player-of-the-match.

After the encounter, Afif said that playing in tough conditions just made the win all the more satisfying and that the team are now looking forward to their final group match.

Bangladesh made a poor start after being sent into bat and were reduced to 29 for two as Pinak Ghosh slashed to point on nought and Saif was quickly sent back to the pavilion on 12.

The initial recovery eventually came in the form of a 62-run partnership between Naim Sheikh and Hridoy. After Naim's dismissal on 47, Afif came to the crease and forged the century partnership with Hridoy.

In their chase of 265, Canada, mostly comprised of Indian and Pakistani expatriates, lost their first wicket with the score on 33 and then went on to lose the next six at regular intervals. Captain Arslan Khan managed 63 runs but that was not good enough to pose a significant threat.

SCORES IN BRIEF

BANGLADESH U-19: 264-8 in 50overs (Naim 47, Hridoy 122, Afif 50; Jamkhandi 5-48)

CANADA U-19: 198 all out in 49.3 overs (Pranab 34, Khan 63; Hasan 2-23, Afif 5-43)

Result: Bangladesh Under-19s won by 66 runs.

Player-of-the-match: Afif Hossain (Bangladesh U-19)