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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Under-19 women’s cricket team has lost two consecutive matches after winning the first one in Mumbai, India where they are having a preparatory training camp for next year’s inaugural International Cricket Council Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.

Zimbabwe won the first match by nine runs and lost the second by 10 wickets before they came out second best by 28 runs. The first two matches were played against Omtex ICWC Cricket Institute while the third was against PDTSA Tarapur.

In the first match, batting first, the young Lady Chevrons were restricted to 88-9 in 20 overs and managed to keep their hosts at 79-9 in 20 overs to take home the first victory. Zimbabwe lost wickets early in the match, losing opener Kelly Ndiraya for just one run with just three batters managing to cross double figures from the team’s innings. Danielle Meikle top scored for Zimbabwe with an unbeaten 14 runs and captain, Kelis Ndhlovu scored 13 runs.

Kudzai Chigora chipped in with 10 runs for the visitors while Natasha Mtomba, wicketkeeper Vimbai Mutungwindu and Adel Zimunu all scored nine runs to round up Zimbabwe’s innings.  Vedal Raut took three wickets for the hosts while Neelakshi Talati and Rachana Pagdhare took two scalps each.

Defending a total of 89, Zimbabwean bowlers gave out a lot of extras which contributed to the hosts’ final score. Zimbabwe conceded 31 extras but still managed to restrict the hosts with the skipper, Ndhlovu taking four wickets while Meikle and Chigora picked up two and one wicket respectively.

In the second match on Saturday the hosts came out guns blazing to keep Zimbabwe at 69-9 in 20 overs and chased down the target in 15. 2 overs, finishing on 70-0. Betty Mangachena top scored for Zimbabwe with 13 runs not out and Kelly Ndiraya chipped in with 12 runs on the board. Mansi Patil scored an unbeaten 41 runs for the hosts while her opening partner, Swati Patil finished unbeaten on 22 runs.

The third match saw PDTSA bowling out Zimbabwe for 65 runs in 14.1 overs having set them a target of 94 runs for the win. The hosts were restricted to 93-4 in 20 overs with Olinder Chare taking 1-11 for Zimbabwe to have the best bowling figures.

With the bat for Zimbabwe, Vimbai Mutungwindu and Adel Zimunhu top scored 13 runs each while Kay Ndiraya chipped in with 11 runs on the board.

Zimbabwe are using the tour to India as part of their preparations for next year’s inaugural International Cricket Council Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.

The Young Lady Chevrons got automatic qualification to the global showpiece alongside South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States of America and the West Indies. Indonesia, Rwanda, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates booked their tickets through regional qualifiers. – @brandon_malvin