 "Australia, Pakistan join India in U-19 World Cup quarters finals")
Australia and Pakistan today secured their spots in the quarterfinals of the U-19 World Cup with wins over Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka respectively.
Australia thumped Papua New Guinea by 311 runs as the former champions progressed to the Super League quarterfinals from Group B, alongside toppers India.
Also joining them were former champions Pakistan who defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets in a Group D match.
The three sides have now joined Afghanistan, England, New Zealand and South Africa, while the England and Canada match on Saturday will decide if Bangladesh also goes through to the Super League quarterfinals, which will start on Monday.
Australia took a firm grip immediately after being asked to bat first and scored a huge 370 for eight.
McSweeney smashed 18 fours and four sixes off 111 balls for his 156, the joint-sixth highest individual score in the U-19 World Cup.
He dominated a 250-run stand for the second wicket with captain Jason Sangha (88, 102b, 5x4, 2x6) against the hapless East Asia Pacific qualifiers and then Param Uppal produced a brisk 42-ball 61 to inflate the total further.
For PNG, James Tau, Leke Morea, Sema Kamea and Daure Aiga grabbed two wickets each, but could not stem the flow of runs and their batting too struggled as they were bowled out for 59 in 24.5 overs.
Ralston became only the third bowler in the history of the tournament to finish with seven scalps.
Sri Lanka were shaken early on as left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi and Arshad Iqbal shared three scalps and then a run-out saw the score reduced to 55 for four. Jehan Daniel struck a defiant 53 and Ashen Bandara scored 37 but the team was bowled out for 188 in 48.2 overs as fast bowler Suleman Shafqat came on to grab three for 29.
At Whangarei, Pakistan made up for some early damages inflicted by left-arm fast bowler Thisara Rashmika (three for 47) to get to their target with 6.3 overs to spare.
Number-four batsman Ali Zaryab Asif knocked up a fine 59 to provide spine to the batting as other batsmen failed to build on good starts.
Mohammad Zaid Alam (28), Muhammad Taha (24), Hassan Khan (24 not out) and Muhammad Musa (23) were the others to chip in.
Australia thumped Papua New Guinea by 311 runs as the former champions progressed to the Super League quarterfinals from Group B, alongside toppers India.
Also joining them were former champions Pakistan who defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets in a Group D match.
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Pakistan will now wait for the outcome of the Afghanistan versus Ireland match on Saturday in Whangarei to find out if they will top the group or finish runners-up.
The three sides have now joined Afghanistan, England, New Zealand and South Africa, while the England and Canada match on Saturday will decide if Bangladesh also goes through to the Super League quarterfinals, which will start on Monday.
Australia took a firm grip immediately after being asked to bat first and scored a huge 370 for eight.
McSweeney smashed 18 fours and four sixes off 111 balls for his 156, the joint-sixth highest individual score in the U-19 World Cup.
He dominated a 250-run stand for the second wicket with captain Jason Sangha (88, 102b, 5x4, 2x6) against the hapless East Asia Pacific qualifiers and then Param Uppal produced a brisk 42-ball 61 to inflate the total further.
For PNG, James Tau, Leke Morea, Sema Kamea and Daure Aiga grabbed two wickets each, but could not stem the flow of runs and their batting too struggled as they were bowled out for 59 in 24.5 overs.
Ralston became only the third bowler in the history of the tournament to finish with seven scalps.
Sri Lanka were shaken early on as left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi and Arshad Iqbal shared three scalps and then a run-out saw the score reduced to 55 for four. Jehan Daniel struck a defiant 53 and Ashen Bandara scored 37 but the team was bowled out for 188 in 48.2 overs as fast bowler Suleman Shafqat came on to grab three for 29.
At Whangarei, Pakistan made up for some early damages inflicted by left-arm fast bowler Thisara Rashmika (three for 47) to get to their target with 6.3 overs to spare.
Number-four batsman Ali Zaryab Asif knocked up a fine 59 to provide spine to the batting as other batsmen failed to build on good starts.
Mohammad Zaid Alam (28), Muhammad Taha (24), Hassan Khan (24 not out) and Muhammad Musa (23) were the others to chip in.