Noah Thain, no gain for SA u19s
On Tuesday, in Potchefstroom, rain and the threat of lightning brought a premature end to the ICC u19 Cricket World Cup clash between South Africa and England, with England in charge on 137/2, chasing 231 for victory.
A confident partnership of 92 between English captain Ben McKinney and Noah Thain, who was unbeaten on 63, had the English, pursuing the host’s 230 all out, in the driver’s seat when the contest was called off.
South Africa’s woes started early on after England elected to field first and unleashed their deep spin attack against the local batsmen.
The home team started positively, however, with Steve Stolk (64) and Lhuan-dré Pretorius (25) scoring at exactly a run a ball to take South Africa to 60 without loss after the first 10 overs.
Stolk was in fine form, smashing the initial English attack for 64 runs from 55 deliveries before a brilliant piece of fielding by the England ‘keeper, Jack Carney, sent the dangerman back to the sheds.
Showing great awareness and quick reactions, Carney flicked off a glove while chasing the ball and turned quickly to fire it in and catch Stolk short of the crease with a direct hit on the wickets.
Tazeem Chaudry Ali, who missed out on England’s opener against Scotland, made his debut against the South Africans, and it took him only two overs to make his mark. He first trapped Oliver Whitehead in front without scoring and he then bowled Romashan Pillay with the very next ball.
Dewan Marais injected some direction into the South African batting effort, smashing 42 from 39 deliveries, which included five fours and a six, while Richard Seletswane lent him good support, selecting his shots well in a 53-ball stay that brought him 33 runs.
Together, they added 55 for the sixth wicket before Eddie Jack bowled Seletswane to reinvigorate the English attack.
Nqobani Mokoena, who replaced Riley Norton in the South African squad, played well alongside Kwena Maphaka to see South Africa into the 50th over. They added a much needed 19 runs, which pushed the home side’s total to 230 before the innings was brought to a stop four balls before its scheduled end by Jaydn Denly.
Tristan Luus, who had been brought into the SA squad as a late replacement for Esosa Aihevba, struck early to send Denly packing, but McKinney and Thain then built a solid partnership to frustrate the hosts for the opening 20 overs.
McKinney had scored 88 runs in England’s previous game to see his side to victory over Scotland.
Pillay, who was visibly disappointed after losing his wicket to the first delivery he faced, made up for that with his bowling and provided the breakthrough for South Africa.
A brilliant leg-cutter sent the English captain’s wickets flying, leaving him two runs short of another half-century.
Thain, however, remained unrelenting for the visitors, with his unbeaten 63 from 82 balls, which included eight fours, shrinking the gap to the South African total.
After the poor weather forced the players from the field, the Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) method was employed to determine that England had won by 36 runs. Eddie Jack was selected as the man of the match for his return of 3/28 from 10 overs. South Africa, though, will feel aggrieved that they weren’t afforded a complete chance to defend their score.
If England wins their next match against the West Indies on 26 January, they will finish top of Group B ahead of the Super Six stage of the competition.
South Africa face Scotland on 27 January in their final group match, where they will hope to return to winning ways.
Earlier in the week, Zacheo van Vuuren followed in his father’s footsteps by beginning his World Cup campaign on the same ground in Kimberley where his dad, Rudie van Vuuren, made his debut for Namibia against Pakistan at the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.
That same year, Rudie van Vuuren became the first person to represent Namibia at a World Cup in both rugby and cricket, and he remains the only person in history to achieve the feat of playing in those two World Cups in the same year. Van Vuuren also became the first Namibian to claim a five-for at the World Cup, which he achieved against England at St George’s Park.
Zacheo led the charge for the Namibian u19s against Australia, alongside his captain, Waterkloof’s Alexander Bursing-Volschenk.
Defending a modest total, South Africa’s western neighbours did well to make heavy inroads into the Australian batting lineup, but a solid contribution from the Aussie captain, Hugh Weibgen (39), took the team from Down Under to victory.
The two South Africans in the Ireland u19 team were at the forefront of their batting effort against Bangladesh.
Rondebosch Boys’ High’s Jordan Neill opened and laid a solid foundation with 31 runs, then King Edward VII’s Kian Hilton stormed to 90 runs from 113 balls, striking 11 fours and a six.
The Irish were, however, let down by their bowlers and Mohammad Shihab James and Ahrar Amin, with an unbroken stand of 111, were able to drive Bangladesh over the line for a statement victory.
Ewald Schreuder claimed two wickets for New Zealand to help slow a thrilling run chase by Nepal in their first outing.
Schreuder also attended Waterkloof, along with the Namibian captain Bursing-Volschenk and South Africa’s Tristan Luus.
Hamilton Boys’ High’s Snehith Reddy scored a massive 146 not out, which proved decisive as the young Black Caps opened their campaign with a win against the team from the Himalayas.
Reddy and his family moved from Vijayawada, in India, to New Zealand in 2007. At Hamilton, he built a solid reputation after earning a place in the prestigious school’s first team from a young age. He is a player to watch at this year’s tournament.
Schreuder picked up two more wickets in the Kiwis’ second game against Afghanistan on Tuesday, but the star of the show was the seamer Matt Rowe, who snapped up 5/21. Rowe’s cousin, Hannah Rowe, plays for the New Zealand Women’s team.
With Reddy not in their squad for their second match, the New Zealand batting line-up crumbled.
At 82/8, it was left to Rowe and Schreuder to take charge. Schreuder showed his intent by opening his account with a boundary. He got his side to within a single run of the Afghan total before he went out to a Mankad.
Rowe finally scored the winning runs, but he would not have expected that to be necessary after his excellent bowling performance.
In the end, there was only a single wicket in it as New Zealand recorded their second win on the trot.
The Kiwis’ best performance in the u19 World Cup thus far was in the inaugural tournament, in 1988, when they lost to the Aussies in the final.
Summarised scorecards
23 January
South Africa u19 230/10 (Steve Stolk 64, Dewan Marais 42, Richard Seletswane 33, Lhuan-dré Pretorius 25; Tazeem Chaudry Ali 3/26, Eddie Jack 3/28, Jaydn Denly 3/37); England u19 137/2 (Noah Thain 63*, Ben McKinney 48; Romashan Pillay 1/19, Tristan Luus 1/19) England won by 36 runs (DLS Method).
Afghanistan u19 91 (Extras 25, Jamshid Zadran 22; Matt Rowe 5/21, Ewald Schreuder 2/15, Ryan Tsourgas 2/33); New Zealand u19 92/9 (Oscar Jackson 26, Extras 24; Allah Mohammed Ghanzanfar 3/29, Arab Gul 2/12, Khalil Ahmed 2/16). New Zealand u19 won by one wicket.
22 January
Namibia u19 91 (Zacheo van Vuuren 29, Alexander Bursing-Volschenk 21; Callum Vidler 4/17, Tom Straker 3/16, Mahli Beardman 2/15); Australia u19 95/6 (Hugh Weibgen 39; Jack Brassel 3/28, Hanro Badenhorst 2/29). Australia won by four wickets.
Ireland u19 235/8 (Kian Hilton 90, Jordan Neill 31, Extras 29, Scott MacBeth 27, John McNally 23; Maruf Mridha 2/45, Sheikh Paevez Jibon 2/54); Bangladesh u19 239/4 (Mohammad Shihab James 55*, Ahrar Amin 45*, Ashiqur Rahman Shibli 44, Adil Bin Siddik 36, Extras 25, Chowdhur Md Rizwan 21; Scott MacBeth 2/41). Bangladesh u19 won by six wickets.
21 January
New Zealand u19 302/8 (Snehith Reddy 146*, Oscar Jackson 75, Tom Jones 33; Subash Bhandari 3/60, Gulsan Jha 2/61); Nepal u19 238/9 (Arjun Kumal 90, Dev Khanal 36, Subash Bhandari 33*, Extras 29; Mason Clarke 3/25, Oscar Jackson 2/25, Ewald Schreuder 2/54). New Zealand u19 won by 64 runs.
Sri Lanka u19 204 (Dinura Kalupahana 60, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 41, Rusanda Gamage 31, Ravishan de Silva 31; Kohl Eksteen 3/40, Matthew Schonken 2/36, Newman Nyamhuri 2/50); Zimbabwe u19 89 (Matthew Schonken 27; Malsha Tharupathi 4/17, Ruvishan Perera 2/2, Vishwa Lahiru 2/12). Sri Lanka u19 won by 39 runs (DLS Method).
20 January
India u19 251/7 (Adarsh Singh 76, Uday Saharan 64, Sachin Dhas 26*, Aravelly Avanish 23, Priyanshu Moliya 23, Extras 23; Maruf Mridha 5/43); Bangladesh u19 167 (Mohammad Shihab James 54, Ariful Islam 41; Saumy Pandey 4/24, Musheer Khan 2/35). India u19 won by 84 runs.
Scotland u19 174 (Owen Gould 48, Jamie Dunk 40, Extras 26; Farhan Ahmed 3/22, Luc Benkenstein 3/41); England u19 178/3 (Ben McKinney 88, Jaydn Denly 40, Noah Thain 22; Ibrahim Faisal 2/30). England u19 won by seven wickets.
Pakistan u19 284/9 (Shahzaib Khan 106, Saad Baig 55, Riaz Ullah 46, Ubaid Shah 22; Khalil Ahmed 4/51, Bashir Ahmad 2/52); Afghanistan u19 103 (Numan Shah 26, Sohail Khan Zurmati 20, Rahimullah Zurmati 20; Ubaid Shah 4/26, Mohammad Zeeshan 3/17). Pakistan u19 won by 181 runs.
