West Indies narrowly edged their way past Afghanistan by nine runs in the ICC Under-19 World Cup thanks to a wonderful spell of bowling from seamer Ray Jordan.

Afghanistan seemed well set to chase down 216 target posted by the West Indies when they reached 204-7, but three wickets in the space of nine deliveries saw them collapse to 206 all out.

For much of the contest it seemed as though Afghanistan were going to be able to pull off another major shock, having surprised many observers by qualifying for the knockout stages thanks in large to defeating Australia.

They claimed the wicket of the dangerous Tagenarine Chanderpaul for an 11 ball duck, while fellow opener Jeremy Solozano also fell without troubling the scoreboard.

Some impressive bowling from Fareed Ahmad (3-47) and Mohammad Mujtaba (3-46) then restricted the West Indies to a relatively low total, which could have been even worse had it not been for a brilliant 92 from number six Fabian Allen.

The 18-year-old helped his country recover from a slow start as he hit eight fours and four sixes, while Ramaal Lewis added a timely 27 before falling to Sharafuddin Ashraf.

Allen would eventually succumb to a straight delivery from Ahmad but Gudakesh Motie fired 17 to help the West Indies limp to 215-8.

Afghanistan made a strong start as Usman Ghani hit 23 from 19 balls before being run out by Nicolas Pooran, while his fellow opener Shahidullah Kamal was in excellent form as he fired 51 from 67 deliveries.

However, a series of wickets saw Afghanistan precariously placed at 97 for 5 but Hashmatullah Shaidi kept his side in the running with a gritty half century.

Nasir Jamal (30) and Sharafuddin Ashraf (21) would almost get Afghanistan home but requiring just 12 runs for another memorable victory they would lose three wickets for just two runs, with Jordan claiming two and Motie the final wicket.

The West Indies will now play India in a futh-placed play-off.