Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema, Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE good news is that the weather finally held out long enough for the Zimbabwe Under-19 team to complete a match yesterday.
Even better is the fact that Zimbabwe managed to show glimpses of what they are capable of as they cruised to a 19-run victory over Afghanistan at Sunrise Sports Club.
The win saw the hosts book their place in the Youth One Day International (ODI) Tri-series final that will be held on January 6 at Old Hararians.
After spending the better part of the tournament as an afterthought to their Asian counterparts, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the hosts not only became the first team to book their place in the final but also did it with a game to spare.
Zimbabwe, registering their first win, saw them leap over Pakistan at the top of the log standings with four points.
Pakistan are second with three points while Afghanistan stay stagnant at the bottom with a solitary point.
Afghanistan won the toss, sent in Zimbabwe to bat and bowled them out for 185 runs.
Zimbabwe’s batting was once again brought into question as only Dhruv Patel offered some form of resistance to the Afghanistan attack with a hard-fought half-century.
The Zimbabwe top-order batter top-scored with 60 runs off 74 balls, an innings that featured six boundaries and a maximum.
While there were cameo knocks from the duo of Brendon Senzere (38 runs off 68 balls) and Tatenda Chimugoro (23 runs off 34 balls), wickets fell cheaply and at regular intervals.
As many as six batters failed to reach double-digit figures.
And the architect of Zimbabwe’s demise was Salam Khan Ahmadzai, who finished as the pick of the Afghanistan bowlers with four wickets for 32 runs.
Hafeez Zadran chipped in with three scalps of his own for 48 runs while the duo of Nooristani Omarzai and Uzairullah Niazai finished with a wicket each.
In response, Afghanistan’s flattered to deceive as they started brightly, but Zimbabwe’s bowling unit owned the day.
Webster Madhidhi led from the front with three wickets for 20 runs, while the duo of Shelton Mazvitorera and Brendon Senzere chipped in with two scalps each.
Their collective bowling effort saw Afghanistan skittled out for 166 runs.
After navigating the opening partnership between Osman Sadat and Faisal Shinozada, the Zimbabwe bowlers gave their Asian counterparts some nervy moments during their innings.
The Afghanistan pair piled on 51 runs off 56 balls with 35 runs off 45 balls and 13 runs off 19 balls respectively.
Zimbabwe got the breakthrough in the ninth over when Senzere had Shinozada caught by Kian Blignaut.
Four overs later, Sadat was on his way back to the pavilion when he was caught behind by Kupakwashe Muradzi off the bowling of Madhidhi.
Benny Zuze would get on in the act when he dismissed Uzairullah Niazai, caught by Shelton Mazvitorera, for his seven runs off 10 balls while some sublime piece of fielding saw Madhidhi run out Khalid Ahmadzai for his fours off three balls.
At this point in time, Afghanistan seemed rattled with 84 runs for four.
Only skipper Mahboob Khan showed some fight from Afghanistan, top-scoring with 49 runs off 80 balls.
Unfortunately, wickets fell at regular intervals around him as Zimbabwe went on to cross the finishing line.
After the match, Zimbabwe Under-19 assistant coach Norbert Manyande was full of praise for their charges, revealing that there is so much more to come from the boys.
“Yeah, this was indeed a good win,” said Manyande.
“Afghanistan are actually rated very highly, and you need only to look at the game they played against Pakistan, who are the Asia Cup champions with Pakistan, they were neck-to-neck for much of that match.
“I think it was won in the last three balls or so.
“For us to then come here and win the way we did is fantastic,” he said.
Manyande refused to put pressure on his batters as he believes there is still more to come from the team.
“Yeah, 185 runs is not what we wanted as we were aiming maybe at 250 or 280 thereabouts.
“But, obviously, we take what we get and we obviously inspire the boys to defend whatever we score.
“Even though we didn’t bat to the best of our ability, I think the bowling and the fielding, in particular, won us the game.
“Now, we move on to the next game and, hopefully, we can maintain the momentum,” he said.
