Bangladesh suffered a big defeat against England in their first match of the ongoing ICC U-19 World Cup on Sunday in West Indies.
Bangladesh won the toss and suffered a collapse while batting first. They had put only 97 runs on the board. In reply, England chased the target of 98 in only 25.1 overs losing three wickets and made a great start in the event.
Ripon Mondol, Bangladesh’s number 11, scored the highest runs of 33 for the team. Apart from him, only two others were able to reach a double-digit score.
One of the first seven batters was able to reach a double-digit score. They failed to negotiate the England pacers well.
For England, right-arm pacer Joshua Boyden bagged four wickets conceding 16 runs.
England lost two wickets inside 26 runs, but they were never out of the contest. Despite losing early wickets, the top-order of England was steady, and they eventually sealed the game without much fuss from the Bangladeshi bowlers.
In their next two group stage matches, Bangladesh will take on Canada and United Arab Emirates on January 20 and 22 respectively.
Bangladesh are the current champions of the ICC U-19 World Cup. In the previous edition of the World Cup, they beat India in the final to clinch their maiden title.
Right before the World Cup, Bangladesh became the runners up in the U-19 Asia Cup contest. They lost the final to India.
However, in the campaign aiming to keep the title in their grab, Bangladesh failed to make a good start to the World Cup. Canada and the United Arab Emirates are comparably easy opponents for Bangladesh.
If the Junior Tigers can beat them, they can still qualify for the next phase of the World Cup.
Apart from Bangladesh, the other teams of this U-19 World Cup are Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, West Indies, and Zimbabwe.
Source: United News of Bangladesh