ZC works to improve Under-19 team

LAST year, Zimbabwe Cricket Under-19 team finished in 12th place in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Under-19 World Cup after an eight wickets defeat at the hands of the West Indies in a play-off match.

In the previous edition of the Under-19 World Cup, Zimbabwe managed to secure a 11th place finish after a 172-run victory over Scotland in yet another play-off match.

Over the past editions of the global showpiece, Zimbabwe has been finishing in similar positions.

However, the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) Board is willing to put in the works to ensure that the youngsters perform better in the upcoming editions and get a better standing than number 11 or 12. The next edition of the Under-19 World Cup will be hosted by Sri Lanka next year before Zimbabwe goes on to co-host the 2026 edition alongside Namibia.

Building up to next year’s global showpiece, ZC chairperson, Tavengwa Mukuhlani is expecting the youngsters to improve their standings. He added that having proper structures will go a long way in assisting the team perform better.

“In the last editions of the Under-19 World Cup, Zimbabwe has ended at the same level, we are either number 11 or 12. We have never moved to number nine or number eight, and that speaks probably to the process that we are using or employing to select these players or maybe our preparation, so we are going to look at all of that to see how we can improve so that our Under-19s can have a better result at the Under-19 World Cup,” said Mukuhlani.

As part of their preparations for next year’s World Cup in Sri Lanka, and in a bid to get more game time, Zimbabwe Under-19 team has been touring India where they played against different clubs from the Asian nation.

Their latest tour came in April where they played two three-day matches and four 50-over games. The Prosper Utseya-coached side managed to produce good results in April and also in their other tour in December last year.

Some of the players have also been taking part and doing well in the country’s premier club cricket competition, the National Premier League (NPL) which is ongoing. With no international matches in place so far, the NPL has been a good preparation for the players.

Next year’s World Cup, which will be the 15th edition of the Under-19 World Cup and the third to be held in Sri Lanka after the 2000 and 2006 editions, is scheduled to take place between February and March.

Zimbabwe got automatic qualification to the global showpiece as one of the best placed Full Member nations from the previous edition last year. The other nations who have already qualified automatically are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. – @brandon_malvin