DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC:
APPALLING RUNNING between the wickets at crucial stages led to Young West Indies' demise by 25 runs in a thrilling climax to the ICC Youth World Cup Bangladesh 2004 against Young Pakistan at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
In pursuit of 231 runs from 50 overs, YWI lost Tishan Maraj, Jonathan Augustus, Liam Sebastien and Rishi Bachan by the run out route on their way to being dismissed for 205 with 17 balls to spare.
Young Pakistan, behind the only half-century of the contest from Asif Iqbal, later named Man-of-the-Match, and then clever spin bowling from Tariq Mahmood and Jahangir Mirza that put the brakes on the YWI's scoring, clinched the Championship for the first time in front of an ecstatic, sell-out crowd.
In the YWI chase, five batsmen got starts, including captain Denesh Ramdin, whose 36 from 61 balls was the top score, but none of them carried on for a significant innings.
West Indies made a bright start to their chase with opening batsmen Maraj and Xavier Marshall sharing 69. But once Pakistan captain Khalid Latif brought spin bowlers Mansoor Amjad and Tariq into the attack, the YWI became unravelled.
Maraj was run out backing up too far in the 13th over and Marshall followed three overs later when he was caught behind for 26 off 42 balls top-edging a sweep off Tariq to leave YWI 72 for two in the 16th over.
YWI were still in the hunt, but Lendl Simmons and Assad Fudadin could not get the ball off the square, batting nearly nine overs together for the addition of just 12 runs, before Jahangir put them out of their misery in successive overs.
UNFORTUNATE
Simmons, playing back to a sharply turning delivery, was adjudged lbw for five in the 24th over - but might have been a touch unfortunate because of the height - and Fudadin caught at backward point for 13 to leave YWI 94 for four in the 26th over.
Ramdin and compatriot Augustus revived YWI's chances with a stand of 50 for the fifth wicket. The two just were just getting on top of the Pakistani spin bowlers when Augustus too, succeeded in running himself out for 25 in the 37th over.
With 87 runs needed from 83 balls, it was going to be tight right to the finish. Although Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul with 24 not out and, to a lesser extent, Zamal Khan kept it interesting, the pressure was too much for YWI and they crashed and burned.
...Players disappointed
DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC
A CLOUD of disappointment has descended on the Young West Indies cricket team after Young Pakistan beat them in a tight finish to win the ICC Youth World Cup Bangladesh 2004 yesterday.
"We have not had a post mortem of the match because they are all very, very disappointed," YWI manager Roland Sampath told CMC Radio Sports.
"They were all feeling down and what we did was attend the presentation function at the end of the match returned to the dressing room and went straight from there to the hotel.
"We may probably have our final team meeting on Saturday (today) because we leave on Sunday (tomorrow), so we did not discuss much about the cricket because of the state in which some of the guys are in."
He added: "The guys are trying to keep their chins up, but they are in a very sombre mood.
DARK HORSE
"We were the 'dark horse' in the race from the Super League, we really started to play some good cricket and got progressively better and better. To come and lose it in the final this way, when we thought we had it in our grasp, it was a bit hard on all of us."
