**Pakistan U19s 190 for 4 (Azam 79 not out) beat Australia U19s 187 (Patterson 83, Nawaz 3 for 36) by six wickets **Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
A half-century from captain and opening batsman Babar Azam led Pakistan Under-19s to a six-wicket win over Australia Under-19s at Gold Coast. The visitors reached the target of 188 with four overs to spare, after the Australians had stuttered in their innings despite an 83 from Kurtis Patterson. Pakistan lead the three-match Youth ODI series 1-0 as they prepare for the Under-19 World Cup, which begins on August 11.
Azam scored 79 off 121 balls to control Pakistan’s chase, building partnerships of 80 each with Imam-ul-Haq and Umar Waheed for the second and third wicket. Sami Aslam, Pakistah’s other opener, had departed early but Australia could not consolidate with further inroads. Pakistan accelerated towards the second half of the innings - the third-wicket stand took only 13.4 overs - and safely reached the target.
“[Pakistan’s] captain, who opened the batting today, was very solid all day and kept the batting ticking over,” William Bosisto, the Australian captain, said.
Unlike Pakistan, Australia’s innings lacked steadiness. Although Patterson tried to hold his side together, wickets continued to fall at the other end. A 67-run stand for the fourth wicket between Patterson and Bosisto was the only partnership of any substance. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz took 3 for 36.
“I think Kurtis Patterson batted really well at No. 3 today and was the mainstay of our innings and also scored quite quickly. We just needed a few other batters to bat around him to get the score up to around the 220-230 mark,” Bosisto said. “Bowling wise Pakistan have got a lot of spinners who were quite accurate and difficult to score from.”
The second Youth ODI is on July 31.
Pakistan Under-19s improved on their already impressive bowling performance in the first one-dayer to rout Australia Under-19s for 139, setting up a seven-wicket victory that clinched the three-match series. A succession of useful contributions from the top-order batsmen allowed the visitors to reach the target with 15.2 overs to spare.
Pakistan had dismissed Australia for 187 in the first match, after choosing to field, and Babar Azam asked the hosts to bat once again. Australia reached 14 before losing their first two wickets in the space of three runs. The promising Kurtis Patterson was run out for a duck.
They slipped to 53 for 4 before Cameron Bancroft and Travis Head had a 52-run partnership. However, they too fell in quick succession and after that the end was swift. Fast bowler Zia-ul-Haq claimed 3 for 20 in seven overs, while Azizullah and Ehsan Adil conceded less than two runs per over.
Australia’s bowlers struck at regular intervals but they needed to knife through the Pakistan line-up to pose a challenge and they were unable to do so. All of the top five batsmen got past 20 and Saad Ali raised the tempo, scoring 36 off 33 balls to secure victory in the 35th over.
“We started quite well at the top with Peirson and Bancroft and we were quite aggressive but unfortunately in the batting side of things there wasn’t many positives after that,” Patterson said after the defeat. "The bowling was good early on, we bowled quite patiently but at the end of the day 139 is just not really enough.
“We have gone two games in a row now where we have massively underachieved and especially today as the pitch was even better, to only get 140 on a flat wicket is really under par and we need to particularly work on our play to spin as well as our play to pace as well.”
Australia Under-19s came back from mediocre performances in the initial two one-dayers to register a commanding eight-wicket win, and salvage some pride, against Pakistan Under-19s in the final match at Gold Coast. Australia’s bowlers ripped through Pakistan’s top-order, reducing them to 8 for 3, and then kept a stranglehold on the innings before Cameron Bancroft and Kurtis Patterson guided the chase with half-centuries.
Pakistan, who had chosen to bowl in the other matches, batted this time but fell into a hole early on with Harry Convay and Joel Paris among the wickets. Imam-ul-Haq, 77, and Umar Waheed, 52, struck a 128-run partnership for the fourth wicket but the rest of the batting was shaky and the last five wickets fell for 20 runs, thanks to off-spinner Ashton Turner’s three wickets and two run-outs. Seamer Mark Stekeete supported Turner well, conceding 14 runs in his 7.5 overs and claiming a wicket. Cameron Bancroft, with a solid 76, increased his runs tally to 143 for the series and was named man of the series. Kurtis Patterson, who struck 83 in the opening one-dayer, remained unbeaten on 52.
Speaking after the win Stuart Law, Australia’s coach, suggested bowling first helped. “I think today’s result is probably indicative of the other two games and we fought back today to gain some respect and put some pride back into our performance. I think winning the toss and bowling first was a major asset for those first two games and we had to come out today and bowl well, and we did.”
“The first two losses made us sit up and work out a plan against this kind of attack - most teams are going to have this sort of attack, and our boys went about rectifying their earlier mistakes.”
Australia travel to Brisbane on Saturday to play warm-up matches against West Indies on August 7 and Scotland on August 8. The Under-19 World Cup starts on August 11.
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