ICC U19 World Cup: With a win over Sri Lanka, Pakistan moves up to fifth place

With victory on Thursday, Pakistan and South Africa ended their ICC Under 19 Men's Cricket World Cup campaigns on a high note (February 3). Pakistan, the two-time champions, breezed through Sri Lanka in the fifth-place playoff after both teams' chances of capturing the trophy ended in the quarter-finals last week.

South Africa, however, finished eighth in Antigua after a hard-fought two-wicket victory over Bangladesh. At the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Pakistan was in command from the start, with openers Muhammad Shehzad and Haseebullah Khan dominating the Sri Lankan attack.

Shehzad scored 73 off just 69 deliveries before being bowled by vice-captain Raveen de Silva as Pakistan reached 100 without loss. However, Khan was joined at the crease by the brilliant skipper Qasim Akram, and the duo pulled the game away from Sri Lanka by putting on an outstanding stand. Khan was finally caught by Matheesha Pathirana on 136, after both had made century and taken Pakistan above 350.

As his team closed in on 365-3, Akram stayed unbeaten, giving their opponents a difficult challenge in obtaining fifth place. After just two overs, Sri Lanka's answer was in shambles, with Akram wreaking havoc with the new ball.

Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Pawan Pathiraja were both dismissed for a combined total of one run, with Shevon Daniel also falling between the two. Ranuda Somarathna also went for a duck, with Akram reducing Sri Lanka to 4-15 on his own.

Sri Lanka began batting for pride only after that. Dunith Wellalage, their captain, didn't go down without a fight, scoring a gutsy 40 that featured five boundaries. Vinuja Ranpul was similarly defiant, hitting 53 not out and his team's only two sixes of the game.

But it wasn't enough, and Pakistan won by 238 runs after Treveen Mathew was hit in the pads by a hard delivery from Zeeshan Zameer, bowling out Sri Lanka in 35 overs for 5th place.