England beats UAE by 213 runs

Brisk half-centuries from Ben Duckett and Ed Barnard, followed by Will Rhodes' three-wicket haul, helped England Under-19 secure an emphatic 213-run victory over UAE Under-19 in Abu Dhabi.

UAE went in to its World Cup Group D opener against England having beaten it in one of the three games it played in a friendly series in the Emirates in December. However, England proved it was the more professional side when it comes to serious business by handing the hosts a thrashing at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Friday (February 14).

England batted first and put up 315 for 8, and the game was never on after UAE lost Chirag Suri for a duck off the first ball of Matthew Fisher’s second over and then Shorye Chopra (6) off the first delivery of Fisher’s fourth over to leave UAE 14 for 2.

Shivank Vijaykumar (26) and Rohit Singh (38) were the only batsmen to reach double figures as UAE was shot out for 102 in 33 overs.

England, asked to bat first, was given a sound start by openers Harry Finch (49) and Jonathan Tattersall (29), who put on 71 in 11 overs.

Ed Barnard (93) and Ben Duckett (83) then shared a superb 151-run partnership for the fourth wicket while Joe Clarke smashed 19 off 11 balls, highlighted by two successive hits over the long-on fence, to get England to its highest total against UAE in four games.