South Africa Under-19 Emerging complete series whitewash

SOUTH Africa Under-19 Emerging have completed a 5-0 white wash of Zimbabwe Under-19 Emerging after winning the fifth and final one day match by nine wickets at Queens Sports Club yesterday.

The visitors were in total control of the series convincingly winning all the matches without breaking sweat.

In yesterday’s game, the Malibongwe Maketa mentored South Africa Under-19 Emerging side won the toss and elected to field first.

Once again, they bowled out Zimbabwe for a paltry score. Their bowlers had a good day in the office as they bowled out Zimbabwe for just 119 runs in 32,4 overs before going on to easily chase it down in 11 overs, finishing on 120/1.

There was nothing to write home about from Zimbabwe with the bat as their batters failed to come to the party once again with only three players crossing double figures.

Kupakwashe Muradzi top scored for the hosts with 29 runs from 54 deliveries while Nathaniel Hlabangana made 23 runs off 16 balls. The other Zimbabwean batter that crossed double figures was Ryan Moyo with 18 runs from 21 deliveries.

Jacob Basson and Ntando Soni took three wickets apiece for South Africa for 32 and 15 runs respectively. Basson bowled eight overs while Soni bowled five. Jason Rowles finished with figures of 2/5 in six overs while Buyanda Majola and Luke Kleinsmith took one scalp each.

South Africa only lost the wicket of Muhammad Bulbilia for 45 runs off 25 balls. His wicket was taken by Kirby Madaramete who finished with figures of 1/22 in two overs.

Soni was named player of the series.

Speaking after the game, Maketa said the scoreboard was not a true reflection of the games as Zimbabwe gave them a good run.

“We played good cricket, but the scoreboard is not a true reflection of really how one sided it was. Zimbabwe put up a fight in every game, and what we did well is that we played pressure moments quite well and in terms of fielding there was a huge difference.

“I thought we actually outfielded them. We know Zimbabwe is one of the best fielding teams so it’s good to see that improvement from our boys and we are happy with the performance,” said Maketa.

Despite losing the series 5-0, Zimbabwe Under-19 assistant coach, Norbert Manyange who took charge of the team in the absence of head coach Elton Chigumbura said he was pleased with what he saw and have learnt their lessons.

He added that they now know the areas they need to improve on.

“Definitely not the best results but i think what we wanted to see is exactly what we saw. It was good to expose the guys early so that we understand where we are and then we know what to work on going forward. I’ll stress this again, this was very important for us and the signs have been shown. We don’t have any doubts about what we need to go from here on,” said Manyange.

Both teams were using the series as part of their early preparations for the 2026 ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup that will be co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia. – @brandon_malvin