Young Chevrons slump again at U-19 WC
Story by Raynald Ngwarati, Sports Reporter
The Zimbabwe Under 19 cricket team, the Young Chevrons suffered a humiliating 225-run defeat in the hands of Australia Under 19 at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under 19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa this Thursday.
The woes at the Diamond Oval continued for the Young Chevrons’ as they failed to find an answer to Australia’s innings which produced 296 runs for the loss of seven wickets.
Harry Dixon (89) and Hugh Weigben (68) both scored crucial half-centuries for the Aussies whilst Sam Konstas (45) and Tom Edward Campbell (47*) fell just short of priced half-centuries to propel the Australians to a score just under 300.
Young Chevrons trio of skipper Matthew Schonken, Ryan Simbi and Brandon Sunguro grabbed two wickets apiece to try and stop the aggressive hitting from the Aussies and keep them below the 300 mark.
The Young Chevrons needed to pull up their sleeves to chase the mammoth target, an uphill ultimatum which the Young Chevrons could not execute.
The chase got off to a horrible start for the Young Chevrons who lost the wicket of Panashe Taruvinga for naught in just a second over before six other batsmen failed to trouble the scorers as Australia’s bowling unit ran riot.
Harkirat Bajwa was the danger man for Australia with four wickets to wrap Zimbabwe’s tail for just 71 runs in 23.2 overs.
Apart from Ronak Patel (36) and Brandon Sunguro (12) all the other batsmen from Zimbabwe failed to reach double figures with only Nathaniel Hlabangana and Matthew Schonken being the two other batters to score for the Young Chevrons.
The Young Chevrons who lost their first match by 39 runs (DLS method) to Sri Lanka at the Diamond Oval on Sunday will now need nothing short of victory in their final group match against regional rivals Namibia on Saturday if they are to make it to the Super Six.
Zimbabwe still have a chance to compete in the Super Six stage should they beat their regional rivals as the top three teams from each of the four groups will advance to the Super 6 stage while the fourth-placed teams drop into a 16th-place playoff.
A total of 16 teams split into four groups of four are participating in the tournament.
