BANGLADESH defeated New Zealand by 77 runs to win their fourth Plate Championship title at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup UAE 2014 at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

Opener Shadman Islam scored 97 and Litton Das contributed 79 as the two batsmen put on 124 runs for the second wicket to propel Bangladesh to 223 in 47 overs. Off-spinner Mosaddek Hossain then returned figures of 10-4-23-4 as New Zealand finished at 146 for nine after Brett Randell followed up his two for 22 with 51 not out.
Bangladesh had previously won the Plate Championship in South Africa (1998), Bangladesh (2004) and New Zealand (2010).
Shadman, who hit 13 fours in a 113-ball innings, finished with an impressive series aggregate of 406 runs. He leads Imam-ul-Haq of Pakistan by 36 runs, with South Africa captain Aiden Markram occupying third place with 304 runs. Both Imam and Markram will feature in tomorrow’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 final which will be broadcast live by Star Sports.
Afghanistan, playing in their third World Cup, finished at an impressive seventh position after defeating Sri Lanka by five wickets at ICC Academy 2. This was Afghanistan’s second big victory in the tournament after they upset Australia by 36 runs. They had also come very close to beating the West Indies before they went down by nine runs.
Usman Ghani took three for 21 and Sayed Shirzad bagged three for 33 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 114 in 34.3 overs. In turn, Afghanistan raced to victory in under 22 overs for the loss of five wickets with Ihsanullah scoring 37 not out.
Zimbabwe finished 11th in the 16-team tournament when they defeated hosts the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 84 runs.
Today, England and Australia will clash in the third/fourth position playoff at the ICC Academy 1. At the ICC Academy 2, Pakistan and South Africa will prepare for tomorrow’s final and will hold their pre-match media conferences at the ICC Headquarters at 13:15hrs and 13:30hrs, respectively.
The pressers will be followed by captains’ photo-shoot with the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 trophy.