ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2016: Day 5 Roundup

Namibia Under-19s reached the quarter-finals with a sensational upset, pulling off a two-wicket win over defending champions South Africa Under-19s in Cox’s Bazar while West Indies Under-19 won by a 262-run margin against Fiji Under-19s, who ended the group stage without once having crossed the 100 mark. The likes of England and hosts Bangladesh also registered victories on an eventful day in the Under-19 World Cup.

Louwrens steers Namibia into quarter-finals:

Defending champions South Africa, who also lost their opening game against Bangladesh, are now out of contention for the quarter-finals. Having chosen to bat, South Africa were on the back foot right from the start. Left-arm seamer Fritz Coetzee dismissed both their openers within the first three overs and reduced them to 2 for 2. Namibia kept chipping away at the wickets, and South Africa was 60 for 8 and in danger of falling short of 100 before Willem Ludick (42) and Lutho Sipalmla (17) averted that danger with a 55-run ninth wicket stand. Sipamla and last man Ziyaad Abrahams stretched the score to 136 for 9. Coetzee finished with three wickets and player of h match Michael van Lingen with four.

The match-winner in a low-scoring game was Lohan Louwrens, who came in at 10 for 2 and scored an unbeaten 58 to steer Namibia to a target of 137. Louwrens did not receive too much support apart from Charl Brits, who scored 27 and added 52 with him for the sixth wicket, as Namibia steadily lost wickets. But he stayed there even as Brits, Chrischen Olivier and Francois Rautenbach fell in the space of 13 balls, steering Namibia home in the 40th over.

Brief Scores:                                                                          

South Africa U19: 136/9 in 50 overs (W Ludick 42; M van Lingen 4/24)

Namibia U19: 137/8 in 39.4 overs (L Louwrens 58*, Z Abrahams 2/18)

Gidron Pope stars for the West Indies:

An all-round display from the player of the match Gidron Pope and a blazing century from Shamar Springer gave West Indies Under-19 a win. Pope’s 76 at the top of the order got West Indies off to a solid start before they lost four wickets in the space of scoring 20 runs to slip to 140 for 4. From there, Springer and Jyd Goolie added 157 for the fifth wicket, before Goolie fell in the 46th over for 66 off 75 balls. Springer was out in the final over for 106 off 78, having struck 10 fours and four sixes and West Indies finished on 340 for 7. Six of the seven wickets went to the medium-pacer Cakacaka Tikoisuva.

Fiji was bowled out for 71, their innings folding inside 28 overs with fast bowler Alzarri Joseph (3 for 15) and off-spinner Pope (4 for 24) in the thick of the action. As against England, Peni Vuniwaqa waged lonely resistance, scoring 29 off 49 balls, with five fours. Fiji will be disappointed with their performances in the competition. No one expected them to qualify for the next round however, a better fighting performance was surely something the team would have hoped for.

Brief Scores:

West Indies U19: 340/7 in 50 overs (K Springer 106; C Tikoisuva 6/59)

Fiji U19: 78/10 in 27.3 overs (P Vuniwaqa 29; G Pope 2/2)

England continues the winning streak:

Jack Burnham’s (106 off 104) second century in five days stamped a dominant England Under-19s performance in Chittagong. They chose to bat, their top three all scored fifty-plus and a total of 288 for 4 proved 129 runs too many forZimbabwe Under-19s. Dan Lawrence got to 50 off 54 balls and his pace was vital to England because the other opener Max Holden struggled to keep his strike-rate up – he was 6 off 17 by the end of the 10th over. Zimbabwe’s spinners did well though: Wesley Madhevere, the 15-year old, and Rugare Magarira gave away only 18 runs off six overs which led to Lawrence’s wicket in the 20th. England was 91 for 1 and out walked Burnham, with the responsibility to push the run-rate up. Holden, at the other end, was on 24 off 48 balls.

Holden reached his fifty off his 87th delivery but was dismissed off his 90th looking to make a little too much of a back of a length ball from Mashinge. Aneurin Donald contributed to a fourth-wicket partnership of 52 runs off 33 balls and when he fell player of the match Burnham took over. 17-year old Sam Curran smashed five fours in the 48th over bowled by Mashinge. Burnham finished unbeaten on 106 off 104 balls with five fours and six sixes. There was even enough time before the lunch break for England’s bowlers to knock over the Zimbabwe openers. The only resistance came from Jeremy Ives, who made 91 off 132 with 12 fours. Sohaib Maqsood, who finished with 4 for 39 was the stand out bowler for England.

Brief Scores:

England U19: 288/4 in 50 overs (J Burnham 106*; R Magarira 2/36)

Zimbabwe U19: 159/10 in 43.4 overs (J Ives 91; S Mahmood 4/39)

Hosts seal quarterfinal berth:

Nazmul Hossain Shanto’s (113 off 117) unbeaten century followed by tight bowling performances from Saleh Ahmed Shawon (3 for 27) and Mohammad Saifuddin (3 for 17) sealed Bangladesh Under-19s’ quarter-final berth with a mammoth 114-run victory over Scotland Under-19s. The hosts were reduced to 17 for 2 in the eighth over, after they were asked to bat. Player of the match Shanto was a part of two century partnerships, adding 101 with Saif Hassan for the third wicket, after which he put a 100-run stand with captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz (51) for the fourth wicket. By the time Miraz fell in the 48th over, Bangladesh were at a commanding 218 for 4. Shanto then propelled the hosts to 256 for 5 by the end of their innings with Bangladesh taking 30 off the last two overs. Mohammad Ghaffar was the pick of Scotland’s bowlers with 4 for 60.

Neil Flack and Rory Johnston gave Scotland a steady start in their chase, adding 48 for the first wicket. Bangladesh’s bowlers, however, struck to reduce Scotland to 113 for 5 by the 38th over. Except Azeem Dar (50 off 89), the rest of Scotland’s batsmen could not manage a score of above 30 and they were eventually bundled out for a paltry total.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh: 256/6 in 50 overs (NH Shanto 113*; M Ghaffar 4/60)

Scotland: 142/10 in 47.2 overs (A Dar 50; M Saifuddin 3/17)