New Zealand shut out England for U19 warm-up win

New Zealand’s Under-19 side has completed preparations for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup starting on Friday with a solid five-wicket win over England at St Andrew's College in Christchurch.

In a rain-shortened match of 43 overs per side, New Zealand bowled superbly to restrict England to 156 for 7 before knocking off the runs in just 30.2 overs, thanks largely to a belligerent half century from opener Jimmy Neesham. The left-hander struck eight fours in his innings of 52 from just 51 balls and shared in a third wicket stand of 51 with Corey Anderson (22), steadying the ship after the loss of openers Doug Bracewell and Tom Latham had left the side at 12 for two.

The pair were particularly severe on anything short, scoring heavily square of the wicket, before Anderson skied a delivery off Matthew Dunn to be caught and bowled. Captain Carl Cachopa also launched into the short pitched bowling, at one point smashing two fours and a six in one over off Dunn, as the pair added a quick-fire 59 to launch New Zealand towards the target.

However, with the loss of Cachopa, and Neesham shortly after, the innings threatened to derail at 122 for five, before Tom Blundell (15 n.o.) and Michael Bracewell (20 n.o.) steered the side home.

Earlier, a fighting unbeaten 41 from David Briggs lifted England to a respectable total after the innings had stuttered to 71 for six in the 29th over.

Briggs added 38 for the seventh wicket with captain Aamez Rafiq (16), before he was brilliantly run out by Michael Bracewell, then was ably supported by Paul Best, who struck two sixes in his unbeaten 23 off 18 balls as the pair lifted the England total.

New Zealand new ball pair Ben Wheeler and Ben Small had made an outstanding start, Wheeler claiming two wickets and Small one, as England slumped to 18 for three. From there, New Zealand continued to stunt the England scoring, Doug Bracewell and Logan van Beek conceding just 14 runs from their collective eight overs, while van Beek also claimed a wicket, to leave England 49 for at drinks.

England batsman James Vince did his best to anchor the innings, scoring 37 from 84 balls and gaining brief support from Benjamin Stokes (17) and it seemed when he went, so too did England's hopes of mounting a respectable total. However, although New Zealand let the foot off the throat somewhat in the final few overs, they were still well ahead at the break and recorded a deserved victory.

In other warm up games today Sri Lanka prevailed over defending champions India by seven runs in a close-fought tussle. Another favoured team, Australia, lost to Bangladesh – who have two good practice wins under their belt, signalling they will be a strong contender in the competition proper starting on Friday.

Elsewhere USA beat Papua New Guinea by 116 runs, Hong Kong beat Canada by four wickets, Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by four wickets, West Indies beat Ireland by five runs, and South Africa beat Pakistan by 10 runs.

Scorecards and more information on the U19 CWC are available at: www.iccevents.yahoo.com.