da betobet： George Binoy previews the second day of quarter-final matches at the Under-19 World Cup
da betway： George Binoy in Kuala Lumpur24-Feb-2008The first day of quarter-finals had two extremely one-sided matches: Indiacrushed England by seven wickets after dismissing them for 146 while WayneParnell took 6 for 8 to skittle Bangladesh for 41 as South Africa secured a 201-runvictory. Both teams are awaiting the results of Monday’s matches, whichwill decide the semi-final line-up. Cricinfo takes a look at the remaining quarter-finals.Australia v Pakistan
Pakistan’s Adil Raza has taken eight wickets at a spectacular 7.75 © International Cricket Council
Australia and Pakistan have faced similar problems in the lead-up totheir quarter-final clash at the Kinrara Oval: the batsmen of both teams have failed to fire.Australia had one impressive showing against Namibia when captain MichaelHill’s brutal 124 off 71 balls led them to 312 but even in that matchtheir lower-middle order collapsed. In the next two games, Australia wererestricted by Nepal to 206 and Sri Lanka’s spinners dried up the runs so effectively that Australia could muster only 172. Several of their top-order batsmen – Phillip Hughes, Hill and Steven Smith – have got off toaggressive starts but they haven’t been able to carry on. The bowling attack has been the main reason for Pakistan’s unbeaten run in the league phase and will severely test Australia’s batting.Pakistan’s batting has struggled even more than Australia’s. They areyet to pass 200 in the tournament, having been dismissed for 156 againstNew Zealand and restricted to 173 for 8 by Zimbabwe, a team that lost toMalaysia. Their opening combination has failed to click, with UmarAkmal, the younger brother of Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran, yet to reachdouble figures.The encouraging aspect for Pakistan, however, is that their bowlers – ledby Adil Raza, a right-arm fast bowler, who has taken eight wickets at 7.75 apiece – have been red hot, managing to defend whatever target their batsmen have set. They ripped through Malaysia for 75, dismissed New Zealand for 129 and allowed Zimbabwe only 86.At Monday’s knockout, it could come down to which batting side performs on the day to set up a semi-final clash against South Africa.New Zealand v Sri Lanka
The nature of the pitch at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur couldplay a significant role in the outcome of the quarter-final between NewZealand and Sri Lanka. Both teams have in-form bowling attacks but thestrengths are very different. While New Zealand have relied on theirnew-ball attack to pick up bulk of the wickets, Sri Lanka’s forte istheir battery of spinners.New Zealand’s Trent Boult has the best figures of the tournament, taking 7for 20 against Malaysia, while Tim Southee also has a five-for againstZimbabwe. Between them, they’ve taken 19 out of the 30 opposition wicketsto fall. Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers haven’t been very impressive so far buttheir left-arm orthodox spinners Sachith Pathirana and Navin Kavikara, andoffspinners Umesh Karunaratne and Roshen Silva have bowled their overseconomically and taken wickets as well. They did a fabulous job ofquelling Australia – who had got off to a solid start – during their Group C match in Penang.As with most of the teams in the tournament, barring India, New Zealandand Sri Lanka’s batting hasn’t been solid so far. New Zealand could notdominate against Zimbabwe, scoring only 221, and were bowled out cheaplyby Pakistan, while Sri Lanka also failed to post imposing totals againstthe minnows in their group – Namibia and Nepal.Whichever team makes it through will face an acid test against India inthe semi-final at the Kinrara Oval.
