Afghanistan rounded off a successful Under-19 World Cup for associate sides with victory over Zimbabwe in the plate competition final today in Cox's Bazar.

Batting first after winning the toss, Zimbabwe lost both openers for ducks in the first three overs, with number four Jeremy Ives out soon afterwards leaving Zimbabwe on 15-3. Ryan Murray led the recovery initially, scoring 53 to take the score to 85 when he was the fifth man out.

The seventh wicket pairing of William Mashinge and Adam Keefe put on 66 before Keefe was out for 38. Mashinge stayed in until the 49th over, reaching 66 before he was the ninth wicket to fall. The final total for Zimbabwe was 216-9, Zia-ur-Rehman and Muslim Musa both taking three wickets for the Afghans.

The Afghan reply was dominated by Tariq Stanikzai. Coming in at number three when Karim Janat was out in the third over, he had small but significant partnerships with Ihsanullah, Perwez Malakzai and Ikram Fazi. Shamsurrahman didn't last as long before he was out hit wicket, but the partnership with Rashid Khan would seal the match for the Afghans.

With the score on 123-5 in the 31st over, the pair needed to stay together for some time if Afghanistan were to win. This they did, putting on an unbroken 95 to secure a five wicket win. Khan scored 55, whilst Stanikzai was able to bring up his century, finishing the innings not out on 106.

Afghanistan win the plate competition then, and like Nepal yesterday can feel a little aggrieved that they have finished ahead of three full members and yet will have to go back to regional qualifiers whilst those full members all play automatically in 2018.

Indeed, assuming the regional based qualifying structure remains, only one of Afghanistan and Nepal will even be able to play in 2018, which seems to be a most unsatisfactory state of affairs, and hardly an example of the meritocratic pathways the ICC claim to be keen on introducing.