England’s campaign at the ICC Under-19 World Cup ended in disappointment, despite an excellent innings from Surrey’s Sam Curran.
The left-handed all-rounder, who had batted consistently throughout the tournament without making a half-century, signed off in style with 83, steering England to a total of 264 for seven in their fifth-placed play-off against Pakistan.
But England were unable to defend that total as 93 from Zeeshan Malik, and an unbeaten 75 from Saif Badar, fired Pakistan to a seven-wicket victory with almost seven overs to spare.
It means England finish sixth in the tournament rankings after winning four of their games in Bangladesh – against Fiji, Zimbabwe, Namibia and most impressively West Indies, who will play India in Sunday’s final – but losing to Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals and now Pakistan.
They had made a bad start after being put in, with the Essex opener Dan Lawrence falling for a duck and Durham’s Jack Burnham also suffering a rare failure.
Tom Moores, the Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper-batsman who had made 85 in his only previous appearance of the tournament against Namibia on Monday, again played positively to make 47 from 39 balls with eight fours and two sixes.
But when he was dismissed in the 11th over England were 58 for three, leaving Curran to join Callum Taylor and consolidate.
They added 52 for the fourth wicket before Taylor was dismissed for 33, ending a consistent tournament in the middle order for the Norfolk-born all-rounder which has brought him 162 runs at an average of 32.
But it was Curran who played the most substantial innings, with intelligent support from England’s captain Brad Taylor.
The Hampshire off-spinner ended unbeaten on 37, and received handy support from George Garton of Sussex. Garton then claimed an early wicket when Pakistan replied as the left-handed Gauhar Hafeez hoiked to Jared Warner at midwicket.
Mason Crane then had Shadab Khan caught by Burnham at cover, but Badar and Malik put on 115 to ensure that Pakistan would end their tournament on a high.
Source: ECB