England dominated New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium to book their place in the quarter-finals of Under-19 Cricket World Cup on Tuesday.
In a winner-takes-all encounter, England defeated their opponents by a comfortable 115 runs after posting a total of 229 for the loss of eight wickets. In reply, New Zealand struggled to get on top of the England bowlers and were skittled out for 114 inside 37 overs.
Ryan Higgins led with the bat for England with an 83-run knock, and the No3 was well supported by opener Harry Finch (30), Will Rhodes (31), and Joe Clarke (33).
Brett Randell may have been the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand having claimed three wickets, but left-arm spin Jeremy Benton produced the most impressive figures; conceding just 19 runs in his 10 allotted overs as well as collecting the wicket of Finch.
Set a tough target, New Zealand's top order made the run-chase all the more difficult when they were reduced to 33-3. Only opener Raki Weerasundara produced any sort of resilience with a solid 41. However, once he went – trapped lbw by Rob Sayer – New Zealand's remaining six wickets fell fo just 52 runs.
Matthew Fisher proved devastating to the New Zealand line-up, helping himself to three wickets in 6.1 overs for the loss of just 18 runs. Sayer, Jack Winslade and Rob Jones grabbed two apiece.
Speaking after the victory, England captain Will Rhodes said: “Fair play to New Zealand, for the first 40 overs they made it very tough but we did very well with the bat at the end.
“We always thought we could defend 230 and our bowlers did the job. We look forward to the Quarter Finals.”
New Zealand skipper Robert O’Donnell added: “I think we started very well today, but England put us under the pump late on and we probably buckled a bit under pressure.
"We would have taken 230 at the start of the day but they bowled very well up top. Full credit to them, they won a lot of key moments in the match."
