England was on the verge of a quarter-final berth in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016 with a 61-run win over a fighting West Indies in Chittagong yesterday. The match was produced by the ICC TV and aired around the world by 15 broadcasters.
England’s second successive win in Group C was built around an impressive 282 for seven from 50 overs after electing to bat.
There were two half-centuries from Dan Lawrence (55) and Callum Taylor (59), and useful contributions from George Bartlett (48) and Sam Curran (39).
The West Indies made a strong comeback after Curran had taken two wickets in the first over, but were bowled out for 221 in the 44th over.
Gidron Pope (60) put on 82 for the third wicket with Keacy Carty (22) before Keemo Paul took the fight into the rival camp with a pugnacious 65 off 58 balls.
“It got a bit nervous out there when their partnerships were going, but in the end it was a comfortable win,” said England captain Brad Taylor.
“Everyone held their nerves in what was a good win.”
England need a point in its last match against Zimbabwe on Sunday to finish as group leaders.
West Indies captain Shimron Hetmyer said the poor start set his team back. “We needed a good start to chase a total like that but we lost two wickets in the first over,” he said.

Namibia rout Scotland
Namibia made a creditable start in Group A with a surprisingly easy nine-wicket rout of Scotland to keep its dream alive of making the Super League quarter-finals for the first time.
Namibia, whose best ever finish in the tournament was 11th place in 2008 and had lost both its warm-up matches in Bangladesh, made short work of Scotland in a one-sided contest.
The Scots were reduced to 129 for nine after electing to bat, before a last-wicket partnership of 30 between Scott Cameron and Mohammad Ghaffar lifted them to 159 all out. Michael van Lingen took three wickets.
Nambia eased past the target in 26 overs following an opening stand of 95 between SJ Loftie-Eaton (67 not out) and Niko Davin (52). Skipper Zane Green was unbeaten on 39.
Despite the early success, the Namibians will still need to win one of their two remaining matches against South Africa and host Bangladesh to ensure a place in the quarter-finals.
“It was a good team performance all-round,” said Green. “We really look forward to our other matches now.”
Scotland’s captain Neil Flack said he was disappointed at the defeat.  “We had a bad day, but credit to Namibia. It made us pay,” said Flack. “We played a few silly shots. But trust me, we will bounce back.

Scores in brief:
Group A - Namibia beat Scotland by nine wickets
Scotland 159 all out, 36.3 overs (Owais Shah 39, Haris Aslam 31; Michael van Lingen 3-19)
Namibia 162-1, 26 overs (SJ Loftie-Eaton 67 not out, Niko Davin 52, Zane Green 39 not out)

Group C - Zimbabwe beat Fiji by seven wickets
Fiji 81 all out, 27.4 overs (Wesley Madhevere 5-24, Blessing Mavuta 3-13)
Zimbabwe 84-3, 18.5 overs (Brendan Sly 29 not out, Jeremy Ives 23)

Group C - England beat the West Indies by 61 runs
England 282-7, 50 overs (Dan Lawrence 55, Callum Taylor 59, George Bartlett 48; Gidron Pope 2-45)
West Indies 221 all out, 43.4 overs (Gidron Pope 60, Keemo Paul 65; Saqib Mahmood 4-42)