Zafar Gohar and Amad Butt starred in a jailbreak with the bat, getting Pakistan Under-19s over the line in a tense semi-final against England Under-19s in Dubai.
Gohar and Butt came in when Pakistan were in the doldrums at 142 for 7 chasing 205. The pair were not under immense pressure with the asking rate at any point, but a few fielding lapses from England aided Pakistan's steady journey towards the target. It came down to the final over with four needed and Butt sealed the win with a boundary over mid-off, sparking wild celebrations.
The noon start was expected to be friendlier for the batsmen, but the trend of early top-order wickets continued as England posted a middle-of-the-road 204, in the first semi-final in Dubai. England were initially tied down by the seamers, who picked up early wickets but later found the spinners equally hard to deal with. The acceleration towards the end came from the captain Will Rhodes, who made an unbeaten 76 off 79 balls.
The noon start was expected to be friendlier for the batsmen, but the trend of early top-order wickets continued as England posted a middle-of-the-road 204, in the first semi-final in Dubai. England were initially tied down by the seamers, who picked up early wickets but later found the spinners equally hard to deal with. The acceleration towards the end came from the captain Will Rhodes, who made an unbeaten 76 off 79 balls.
It hurt England that their best batsman to deal with spin, Ben Duckett, fell just after he had gotten off to a start. Duckett's first run off the bat was also England's, a wait that lasted 22 balls. In that period they lost their openers, with Jonathan Tattersall playing an airy drive to point and then Harry Finch driving straight to short cover. Tattersall was all at sea against the left-arm pace of Zia-ul-Haq, who probed outside the off stump and his wicket was a reward for tight bowling.
Duckett kept looking for scoring opportunities, pulling the seamers over the infield and fetched two consecutive fours off Zia to the on side. However, he got his placement wrong the same over, attempting another pull, finding Imam-ul-Haq who took a sharp catch to his right at midwicket. Duckett's handling of India's spinners helped England get over the line in the quarter-finals but now it was down to his colleagues to handle Pakistan's spin heavy attack.
The boundaries had dried up for England after the loss of three wickets for 38. The ploy of taking the Powerplay as early as the 17th over didn't work as it yielded only 15 runs. Ed Barnard, who shared a crucial partnership with Duckett against India, failed to get going as he dragged a straighter one from the left-arm spinner Kamran Ghulam onto his stumps.
Rhodes broke a boundary drought that lasted 98 balls when he pulled Saud Shakeel to deep square leg. Ryan Higgins made a subdued fifty, scoring just one four. England were pegged back further when Higgins rushed down the track to the legspinner Karamat Ali and was stumped. Karamat then breached Joe Clarke's defense the next ball, leaving England at 119 for 6.
Rhodes' positive knock was responsible for England getting to 200. He was aggressive between the wickets and used his feet against the spinners, charging Zafar Gohar and launching him over deep midwicket. England scored exactly 50 off the last five overs, thanks to Rhodes and Rob Sayer. Rhodes reached his fifty off 65 balls and along with Sayer, took 17 off the final over.
