HARARE, Zimbabwe (CMC) — West Indies’ hopes of reaching the semi-final of the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup suffered a major setback when they went down by 22 runs to defending champions Australia in their crucial Super Six Group 1 encounter on Wednesday.

Needing a victory to boost their chances of reaching the final four, the regional team produced a below par bowling effort after sending the Aussies into bat at the Harare Sports Club as Captain Oliver Peake scored an impressive century to power his side to a formidable 314 for seven in their 50 overs

Through the efforts of Zachary Carter and skipper Joshua Dorne, who scored contrasting half centuries, West Indies put themselves in a strong position to pull off a memorable win, but faltered at the death to finish on 292 for nine.

With the result, the unbeaten Australians advanced to the semi-final stage of the tournament, leaving the Windies needing a miracle due to their poor net run rate.

They are currently tied on four points with Afghanistan, who are currently in second place on net run rate ahead of Sri Lanka.

However, the Windies would need both Afghanistan, who is set to play Ireland in their final Super Six match on Friday, and Sri Lanka, who take on South Africa on Thursday, to suffer heavy defeats if they are to have any chance of progressing in the tournament.

They will rue a missed opportunity against Australia, who for the first time in the competition looked headed for defeat.