DHAKA, March 3: Denesh Ramdin struck a fluent 72 and paceman Ravi Rampaul claimed three wickets as the West Indies crushed England by 94 runs to storm into the ICC Under-19 World Cup final here on Tuesday.
The West Indies will now clash with Pakistan in the day/night final on Friday. The West Indies scored 249-6 after electing to bat before restricting England to 155 under lights at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Skipper Ramdin boosted the West Indies' total with a vital 85-ball knock and added 68 runs for the fourth wicket with Assad Fudadin (51) after his team was struggling at 69-3 at one stage. Lower-order batsman Zamal Khan smashed an unbeaten 60 off just 49 balls in the closing overs.
Opener Xavier Marshall (45) was the other main contributor for the West Indies. England struggled against an accurate bowling attack led by Rampaul, who had played eight One-day Internationals for the senior team on the recent tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Rampaul took an early wicket of Ravinder Bopara and then came back to remove captain Alistair Cook (33) and James Hildreth (27). Cook, who struck two hundreds and a half-century in his last three innings, failed to dominate the bowling during his 71-ball knock. Tim Bresnan top-scored with a run-a-ball 41, hitting one six and six fours.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES:
X.M. Marshall c Lawson b Wright 45
T. Maraj run out 0
L.M.P. Simmons lbw b Harrison 5
A.B. Fudadin b Harrison 51
D. Ramdin c New b Bresnan 72
J.C. Augustus b Harrison 2
Z. Khan not out 60
R. Rampaul not out 1
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-7, W-5) 13
TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 249
FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 30, 3-69, 4-137, 5-146, 6-233.
DID NOT BAT: L.A. Sebastien, R. Bachan, M. Matthew.
