Eddie Chikamhi

Zimpapers Sports Hub

LIGHTNING nearly struck twice yesterday for the representative national cricket teams involved in the World Cup matches yesterday.

But the Zimbabwe Under-19 side just managed to sneak into the Super Six of the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup despite an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan at Takashinga Cricket Club.

The Young Chevrons survived to fight another day with a narrow escape on net run rate in the final Group C match of the youth competition, which Zimbabwe are co-hosting with Namibia.

Playing just hours after the senior Women’s side had been eliminated from the Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier taking place in Nepal, the Young Chevrons needed an outright win against Pakistan to secure automatic qualification to the Super Six.

But in the end, they just managed to pip their Group C rivals Scotland to the Super Six ticket by the narrowest of margins, after both teams had finished the round robin games win-less.

England topped Group C with six points, followed by Pakistan on four points.

Zimbabwe and Scotland sat on one point each after their opening match was washed out by rain at the same venue last week.

And yesterday, the overcast conditions persisted throughout the match against Pakistan but the rains stayed away.

The home support was fantastic, with the brass band playing non-stop to cheer on the boys.

However, the plot unravelled almost immediately when skipper Simbarashe Mudzengerere lost the toss and his team was sent in to bat first.

The Young Chevrons were no match for the Pakistan bowlers, and it was no surprise they were skittled for a meagre 128 runs inside 35.5 runs.

Eight of Zimbabwe’s batters failed to reach double-digit scores. It was such a bad day in the office that Brandon Senzere, who came in at number seven, was the second-highest scorer with 15 runs.

The poor batting performance meant Zimbabwe needed to bowl at least 25.2 overs to Pakistan in order to edge Scotland into third place and qualify for the Super Six.

For Pakistan, who were coming from another big win over Scotland in their last group game on Monday, this was always going to be an easy chase.

They quickly got off the blocks but lost two wickets for 68 runs in the opening 11 overs. They continued in cruise mode, but somehow the hosts managed to slow them down when it mattered most in the middle overs to ensure they bowled enough overs to overturn the net run rate needed to edge Scotland in the race for third place.

Most importantly, both teams, along with England, managed to qualify for the Super Six from Group C, and Zimbabwe are likely to meet India next Tuesday.

Young Chevrons coach Elton Chigumbura lamented the poor batting performance yesterday, which he said was way below the team’s projections.

“On the betting side, I don’t think we started the way we wanted. We lost too many wickets in the first powerplay, which was something we didn’t want to happen. But the way Nathaniel held his end was impressive.

“We just needed someone to support the way he was playing today. Unfortunately, we kept losing so many wick-ets. But obviously, we would have liked to score more than 128.

Pakistan Under-19 captain Farhan Yousaf was delighted with the qualification, especially after seeing his team re-cover from the opening match defeat to England and then beating Scotland and Zimbabwe.

“The bowlers are doing very well in our matches,” he said.

“Sameer performed really well in this match. We need his form in the next round, and our batters are in good form.”