England Men's U19 win world cup opener against Scotland

England Men's U19 beat Scotland Men's U19 by 7 wickets

England got their Under 19s World Cup campaign off to a winning start as they beat Scotland in their opening group game in South Africa on Saturday.

England won the toss and chose to bowl first, restricting Scotland to 174 runs. There was plenty of turn on offer in Potchefstroom as seven wickets fell to England's young spinners. There were three wickets apiece for Farhan Ahmed and Luc Benkenstein, and one for Jaydn Denly. Ahmed finishing with the best figures of 3-22.

In reply England's openers got off to a fantastic start thanks to a half-century from captain Ben McKinney and 40 from Denly, as they put on 106 for the opening partnership.

With such a strong platform to build off, Noah Thain contributed 22 runs to take England past 150, before being dismissed. McKinney's eye-catching innings ended on 88 from just 68 balls, as he struck out attempting to reach his century before the close. So it was up to Benkenstein and Hamza Sheikh to see England across the line in the 27th over.

After the game player-of-the-match McKinney gave his thoughts on the win: "It was tough batting early on, but I found my range pretty well. Today we gave ourselves a bit more time as openers and it paid off. The pitch had a little bit of hold for the spin and it stopped a bit off a length for the seamers, but overall I thought it was a good wicket.

"I think Jaydn and I complement each other, with him being a smaller left hander it helps with the inconsistency of length. I would have taken this start every day of the week for our first game of the world cup and now I hope it can continue.

"I thought 174 wasn't an easy total to chase if we didn't go about it the right way. I thought it was a decent enough total if it was going to spin a bit more. Young Farhan Ahmed is so ruthless with his lengths and lines and we took seven wickets with spin today, so we wanted to get spin on as early as possible, but the seamers started really well for us.

"It was great for some of our other batters to get some time in the middle, they probably would have wanted some more, but for them to come and finish the job and see what it feels like in a world cup game is a great to see."

England Men U19 World Cup Fixtures

Saturday 20 January: England Men U19 beat Scotland U19 by 7 wickets

Tuesday 23 January: England Men U19 v South Africa U19, 8am

Friday 26 January: England Men U19 v West Indies U19, 8am

Tuesday 30 January - Saturday 3 February: ICC Men's U19 World Cup Super Six, 8am

Tuesday 6 and Thursday 8 February: ICC Men's U19 World Cup Semi-Finals, 8am

Sunday 11 February: ICC Men's U19 World Cup Final, 8am