Online Reporter
Eddie Chikamhi
Hosts Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket team may have been disappointed when they ended their ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup campaign without a win at the weekend, but assistant coach Nobert Manyande believes the tournament served its purpose as a launching pad for the next generation of cricket stars.
The Young Chevrons crashed to 74 runs defeat to Bangladesh in their last Super Six fixture at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday, a result that sealed their fate in the 2026 edition of the youth international cricket tournament.
Zimbabwe finished winless after losing to England and Pakistan in the group stage.
Although they managed to scrape through to the Super Six phase courtesy of a point shared in the abandoned tournament opener against Scotland, and a better run rate against the Europeans, they still could not discover the winning formula following defeats to India and Bangladesh.
However, disappointing the results could have been, Manyande, who is assistant to Elton Chigumbura, was more fixated on the positives from the individual performances, which they hope to build on going into the future.
The Zimbabwe Under-19 players blew hot and cold throughout the tournament with glimpses shown by skipper Simbarashe Mudzengerere, who scored 70 runs in the last match against Bangladesh, Nathaniel Hlabangana, Leeroy Chiwaula, Tatenda Chimugoro and Kian Blignaut.
“I think Zimbabwe performed in patches,” said Manyande.
“Hlabangana’s innings against Pakistan, who I think are probably the best bowling team in this tournament, was awesome.
“Chiwaula’s innings of 50 against India; they have got world-class spinners as well and I think everyone knows about them, and for Chiwaula to stand like that and score good runs was nice.”
“We had a few patches as well with the bowlers. Simbarashe Mudzengerere’s bowling has been quite good. (Panashe) Mazai was on and off and has been good as well in some games.
“So, there are a lot of positives. The only challenge is that we were not doing it at once, which is a concern.
“And, we were not converting into big scores and we were not getting guys getting five or six wickets. I think Tatenda Chimugoro has also shown a lot of good highlights with his batting and bowling.”
Despite the poor run Young Chevrons enjoyed warm backing from the home fans who turned out in numbers for their games, starting from the warm-ups in Masvingo, through to the group phase at Takashinga as well as the Super Six matches at Queens and Harare Sports Club.
“The support has been awesome. Whether we were doing well or not, I think the support has been great. It shows the people are really behind the country,” said Manyande.
In their final game, Zimbabwe were set a target of 254 runs by Bangladesh on Saturday but they still fell short after they were bowled out for 179 runs in 48.4 overs.
Mudzengerere’s 70 was the only meaningful contribution in a chase that fizzled out following a familiar batting collapse.
They could have lost by a bigger margin, but Zimbabwe put together 64 runs for the ninth wicket, a record for them in Youth ODIs, to avert humiliation.
Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were both knocked out of contention for the semi-finals, with the hosts anchoring the Super Six group while Bangladesh’s win helped them finish above New Zealand.
Mudzengerere was the highest run scorer for Zimbabwe with a total of 119 runs from four innings. Leeroy Chiwaula was second with 96 and Tatenda Chimugoro on 73 runs.
England’s Ben Angers Mayes was the tournament’s leading scorer at the end of the Super Six phase with 375 runs to his name, followed by Afghanistan’s Faisal Shinozada, who had 325 runs to his name.
On the bowling side, Chimugoro led the hosts with five scalps in the bag from four innings. Shelton Mazvitorera and Panashe Mazai featured in three innings each and had four wickets apiece.
But they could not match their peers from the participating nations, as England, Pakistan, Australia, India and Afghanistan have dominated with some brilliant performances.
England’s Manny Lumsden finished the Super Sixes with 13 wickets from five innings, while Nooristani Omarzai of Afghanistan, Australia’s Charles Luchmand and Al Fahad of Bangladesh had 12 wickets each.
Pakistan’s sensation Ali Raza (13) and Abdul Subhan (13) had 26 wickets between them at the end of their last Super Six fixture against India at Queens Sports Club yesterday.
“I think this is the highest tournament at youth level,” said Manyande.
“So, from here, like we always say, you will see a lot of international cricketers coming from this tournament.
“A few will actually go straight to their national teams or big first-class teams from this World Cup.”
Peter Tanyanyiwa