Zimpapers Logo

Stephen Mangongo

Zimbabwe Under-19s won by eight wickets (with 166 balls remaining).

CAPTAIN Blessing Mavuta took six wickets as Zimbabwe Under-19 crushed their Namibian counterparts by eight wickets in an International Cricket Council Under-19 Cricket World Cup warm-up match at MA Aziz Stadium in the Bangladesh port city of Chittagong yesterday.

Mavuta’s magic spell with the ball helped dismiss Namibia, who won the toss and elected to bat, for 120 runs in 39.5 overs.

Namibia got off to a steady start, with the opening pair of Sybrand Jacobus Loftie-Eaton (38) and Niko Davin (21) sharing a 46-run stand for the first wicket.

However, Kundai Matigimu gave Zimbabwe the breakthrough when he clean-bowled Davin with the second ball of the 11th over to leave Namibia at 46-1.

With Namibia struggling to find fluidity, Jeremy Ives dented their hopes when he bowled Loftie-Eaton to claim the first of his two wickets in the match.

Zane Green and Lohan Louwrens — the only other batsmen to get to double figures for Namibia with 23 runs and 14 runs respectively — tried to rebuild the innings, but Mavuta would have none of that.

The 18-year-old Zimbabwe skipper trapped Green leg before wicket and had Michael van Lingen trudging back to the pavilion for a golden duck with the next delivery to begin his magical spell.

Mavuta ran out Charl Brits for six runs before having Chrischen Olivier (three) clipping his leg-break delivery to Matigimu as Namibia’s middle order collapsed in spectacular fashion.

Mavuta was not done as he caught and bowled Louwrens before dismissing Francois Rautenbach for a duck and Warren van Wyk for two runs as the Namibian tail failed to wag.

Ives completed the wipe-out with the scalp of Fritz Coetzee, who failed to score from the five balls he faced as Namibia were all out for 120 in 39.5 overs.

Zimbabwe had little trouble chasing down the target, scoring 121 for 2 in 22.2 overs, with Shaun Snyder smashing 60 runs off 62 balls before retiring hurt in the 20th over.

His opening partner Brendan Sly was two runs short of his own fifty when he was caught by substitute fielder Burton Jacobs off a Honga delivery, but the job was as good as done.

With Zimbabwe needing just two runs to wrap up the game, Honga struck again, catching William Mashinge off his own bowling for a duck.

However, Ryan Murray and Wesley Madhevhere scored a run apiece to hand coach Stephen Mangongo’s charges a morale-boosting and comfortable eight-wicket victory with 166 balls to spare.

This was Zimbabwe’s final warm-up match before they get their Group C ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup campaign underway against Fiji at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Friday.

Zimbabwe will face England at the same venue on Sunday before completing their group match action against the West Indies on February 2.

There are 16 teams in this year’s 11th edition of the biennial tournament comprising the nine Test-playing nations, Associate and Affiliate members Afghanistan, Canada, Fiji, Namibia, Nepal, Ireland and Scotland.

The top two in each of the four groups will advance to the Super League quarter-finals while the other two will play in the Plate championships. — ZC