U-19 World Cup | Twitter reacts as Straker's six-fer in one-wicket humdinger against Pak sets up Indo-Aus final

U-19 World Cup | Twitter reacts as Straker's six-fer in one-wicket humdinger against Pak sets up Indo-Aus final

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Australia ensured a repeat of the senior men's summit clash by scraping through in a last-over thriller against Pakistan in Benoni. Tom Straker set the stage ablaze with a record-breaking six-fer before the batters battled the nerves and Ali Raza's heroics to chase down 180 with a wicket to spare.

Brief scores: AUS 181/7 (49.1) [Harry Dixon 50(75), Oliver Peake 49(75); Ali Raza 10-2-34-4] beat PAK 179 (48.5) [Arafat Minhas 52(61), Azan Awais 52(91); Tom Staker 9.5-1-24-6] by one wicket

Pakistan got off to a stuttering start after being asked to bat first with Shahzaib Hussain's struggles to get any run on the board trumping Shamyl Hussain's attacking flair. The pressure finally bore dividends for Australia as Tom Straker had the latter sky a back-of-a-length delivery for 17 before a brilliant setup by Callum Vidler got rid of Shahzaib after a 30-ball four to leave the opposition reeling at 27/2 at the end of the powerplay. The three middle-order stallions Saad Baig, Ahmad Hassan, and Haroon Arshad suffered a similar fat, contributing 15 runs altogether from 56 deliveries, to worsen the team's miseries given a score of 79/5. However, number three Azan Awais ensured he made the most of his opportunities after settling in and stitched a pivotal partnership of 54 runs with the more intent Arafat Minhas, both batters registering half-centuries albeit at widely varying pace. Nevertheless, Straker returned in the final powerplay to continue banging the ball on a hard length and first had Awais caught behind before cleaning up the tail within two overs to finish with dreamy figures of 6/24, the best for a bowler in the final-four stage of an U-19 World Cup.

Chasing a seemingly modest 180, the Kangaroos sailed through the first 10 overs accumulating 33 runs in the process albeit Sam Konstas fell on the ball after for a hard-fought 14. A collapse akin to their counterparts ensued, only in much quicker succession, and Pakistan had wrestled themselves back into the game with the scorecard reading 59/4. Opener Harry Dixon stood brave in the face of adversity to keep the runs coming and middle-order maestro Oliver Peake gave him able company in a momentum-changing 43-run stand. The requirement had dwindled under 100 with half the innings to go and even Dixon getting bowled for 50 by Arafat Minhas in the 27th over was offset by the incoming Tom Campbell contributing to another 44-run stand. However, things truly became intense when the left-arm spinner repeated his antics with Campbell while approaching the 40th over, setting the stage for Ali Raza's heroics. He kickstarted the final act by strangling Peake down the leg side with 25 runs to get and survived vicious cramps to deliver a double-wicket maiden in his curtain closer to bring Pakistan within a wicket of glory. However, the cliffhanger stretched all the way to the final over and it took an under-edge boundary to send the Men from Down Under into ecstasy.

That was so close!

LOL! xD xD

This game>>>>>>

OHHH!!

Happens!

They did well!

AUS will play IND in final now!

This hurts!

Didn't notice it!

Feels sad!

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