U19 World Cup-Defending Champions Knocked Out

Group A

An astounding win over the defending champions saw Namibia reach the quarterfinals of U-19 World Cup.  This win also meant that South Africa faced an early exit, having lost both of their group matches. 

Opting to bat first, South Africa was jolted right from the start. Left-arm seamer Fritz Coetzee struck early and reduced the defending champions for 2 for 2 within three overs. Regular strikes saw them in grave danger as they were 60-8 and 100 looked like miles away.  Willem Ludick (42) and Lutho Sipamla (17) stitched a 55-run partnership to stretch the score to 136-9.

Namibia started poorly as both the openers were back in the hut as early as 3rd over. Then came  Lohan Louwrens who scored an unbeaten 58 to take his side into the quarter finals. This was Namibia’s first ever win over Test playing youth Nation since 2002. The last of which came against Sri Lanka.

In another encounter Bangla tigers defeated Scotland comprehensively. Nazmul Hossain Shanto’s brilliant hundred  (113 off 117 balls)  and strong bowling performances by Saleh Ahmed Shawon (3 for 27) and Mohammad Saifuddin (3 for 17) sealed Bangladesh U-19s quarterfinal birth. 

Having put into bat, Bangladesh were reduced to 17 for 2 in the eight over. Shanto then played with discipline and two century partnerships with Saif Hassan for the third wicket and with  captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz (51) for the fourth wicket put Bangladesh in a commanding position.

Neil Flack and Rory Johnston were rock solid and added 48 runs for first wicket, but rest of the batting was fairly inexperienced and eventually Scotland U-19s were crushed by a margin of 114 runs.

Group C

Burham’s unbeaten century (106) and DW Lawrence’s catalyst knock (59) at the top steered England into the quarterfinals of U-19 World Cup. A total of 288-4 proved like a tough mountain to climb and Zimbabwe U-19s were crushed by 129 runs. 

‘Chef’  Max Holden was slow in his approach as Lawrence had to do much for the work early on. He reached his fifty in just 54 balls which gave the early impetus to England as Holden was struggling early in his innings. After the first wicket Burnham came into bat and took the responsibility to up the ante. Six sixes and Five fours put England in authority.  17-year old Sam Curran smashed five fours in the 48th over which meant that Zimbabwe had a huge task ahead.

Jeremy Ives (91 off 132) was the only player to put up a fight against some hostile fast bowling. The rest of the team faltered and it was a matter of time before England finished off with an emphatic victory.

Later in the day, all-round performance by Gidron Pope and a smoldering century by Shamar Springer proved too much for Fiji U-19s as they were beaten by a huge margin of 262 runs. Pope’s 76 gave his team a solid start before some fine bowling saw them slip to 140 for 4. Springer clobbered  the bowlers all around the park  and took the scorecard to 340-7. 

Fiji failed to put up a fight as their innings folded inside 28 overs with fast bowler Alzarri Joseph (3 for 15) and offspinner Pope (4 for 24) doing all the damage.