The third round of the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier underlined the promise of Papua New Guinea (PNG) with a third straight victory. The round also saw the USA surprise favourite Ireland, Canada beat the Netherlands and Afghanistan defeat Hong Kong.

PNG surged to a third straight win as Uganda was bowled out for 142 while chasing 235 runs at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City. PNG coach John Ovia called the result “a very good win for our boys,” adding “we did the simple things right and all the batsmen got runs.”

Put into bat, PNG was provided with a 51-run start by openers Heni Siaka (28) and Lega Tau (27) before the middle-order batsmen came to the party and helped their side to a competitive 234-5 in 50 overs. Vagi Oala with 46 finished as the top scorer while Steven Eno scored a 36-ball 43 not out and John Reva chipped in with a 25-ball 29. Eno and Reva put on 60 runs for the unfinished sixth wicket.

For Uganda, Henry Ssenyondo finished as the pick of the bowlers with 3-52.

In turn, Uganda was bowled out for 142 with Charles Amini (3-21) and Jonathon Diho (2-23) sharing wickets. Emmanuel Nakana (37) and Ahmed Yakub (22) were the only batsmen to offer any resistence.

“Jonathan Diho bowled well, as did the two spinners Jason (Kila) and Charlie Amini,” said Ovia.

In the upset of the day, the USA defeated pre-tournament favourite Ireland by 42 runs at the Maple Leaf 3.

Ryan Corns played a fine innings of 86 off 124 balls that included 10 fours and a six before he was run-out as the USA scored 217-6 in the allowed overs. Corns featured in two useful partnerships when he added 71 runs for the second wicket with Henry Wardley (29) and then put on 89 for the second with captain Vashishat (46).

In its target chase, Ireland was bowled out for 175 as several Irish batsmen were caught in the deep while attempting big shots.

A happy US coach Shrivarine said: “Ryan played a crucial innings of 86 but he should have gone on to complete a century. The run-out was a piece of good fielding. Ryan’s innings showed he knows he understands the game and showed his class.”

At the Malton Cricket Club, host Canada defeated the Netherlands by 77 runs.

Canada batted first and was bowled out for 220 on the final ball of the 50th over. There were even contributions from the host team batsmen with opener Ruvindu Gunasekera scoring 35 and Nitesh Kumar hitting a patient 40. Other valuable contributions came from Usman Limbada (26), Asif Manjra (27) and Arsalan Qadir (19) as Ferdi Vink finished as the most successful Dutch bowler with three wickets.

In its turn at the wicket, the Netherlands lost eight wickets for 44 runs to be bowled for 143. The Dutch was sitting pretty at 99-2 before spinners Riyaz Khan Pathan and Hiral Patel equally shared four wickets between to send the Dutch spinning to defeat.

At the Maple Leaf 4, Afghanistan pulled off a comfortable six-wicket victory over Hong Kong.

Opener Aiyub Ahmadzai (34) and Jawad Ahmadi (58) put on 67 runs for the first wicket and Noorullah Malekzai (44 not out) and Aimal Wafar (27 not out) added 70 runs for the unfinished fifth wicket as Afghanistan achieved the 196-run target in 42.3 overs.

Earlier, Hong Kong made a poor start when it lost two early wickets to Izatullah Khan. At that stage Nizakat Khan (59) and captain Jamie Atkinson (27) put on 56 runs for the third wicket to repair the damage. However, the lower middle-order batsmen failed to carry on the good work by Khan and Atkinson and were bowled out for 195. Ashish Gadhia was the other notable batsman with 44 as Aimal Wafa finished the pick of Afghanistan bowlers with 3-22.