Shumba stars as Zim U19 pip New Zealand

Sports Reporter

New Zealand Under-19 — 198 (49 overs) (Jesse Tashkoff 39, Ollie White 32, Beckham Wheeler-Greenall 24; Milton Shumba 4/23, Wessly Madhevere 3/45, Privilege Chesa 2/38)

Zimbabwe Under-19 — 199-8 (49.3 overs) (Milton Shumba 50, Emmanuel Bawa 41, Taurayi Tugwete 37; Jesse Tashkoff 2/32, Beckham Wheeler-Greenall 2/32, Joey Field 1/28)

Zim Under-19 won by two wickets

MILTON Shumba starred for Zimbabwe Under-19 with a gutsy fifty and four cheap wickets in yesterday’s thrilling two-wicket win over New Zealand Under-19 in a Quadrangular Series in Durban.

Luke Oldknow held his nerve at the death to smash opening bowler Kristian Clarke for six to take the Young Chevrons across the line in a tight finish.

Zimbabwe claimed a third place finish and ended the series with two successive victories following another stunning win over South Africa on Tuesday.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat, with opening batsmen Rhys Mariu (23) and Ollie White (32) putting on 52-run for the first wicket partnership.

Shumba came on to bowl his left-arm spin and turned things around in the course of two overs by hauling three wickets. He had White caught for 32 a few overs later to leave New Zealand struggling at 77 for four wickets.

Shumba was also economic with the ball, conceding only 23 runs off his 10 overs.

The fighting partnership between New Zealand captain Jesse Tashkoff (39) and Beckham Wheeler-Greenall (24) took their score to 133.

Both fell in consecutive overs and eight were down for 155 before Quinn Sunde with 23 not out helped by the tail-enders took their total to 198 off 49 overs.

Wessly Madhevere took three wickets, but at great expense, as he conceded 45 runs in his 10 overs.

Zimbabwe lost Madhevere for one run, but the crucial partnership between Emmanuel Bawa (41) and Shumba (50) put on 85 runs.

Bawa was aggressive, scoring his runs off only 56 balls, while Shumba was steadier and more stayed at the crease until he was removed leaving Zimbabwe on 133/6.

New Zealanders looked favourites at this stage, as Zimbabwe’s middle order contributed few runs.

However, Taurayi Tugwete came to the rescue and found a reliable partner in Oldknow, who came in at number nine.

The pair took the score from 152 to 189 before Tugwete was bowled for 37 with just 10 balls left in the innings.

Privilege Chesa scored two singles, but Oldknow knew the burden was on him with nine runs needed off the final over.

Chesa scored a single and Oldknow two, before the left-hander threw caution to the wind and blasted the third ball of the over into the stands to win the match for Zimbabwe.