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Jack Burnham‘s second century in five days stamped a dominant England Under-19s performance in Chittagong. They chose to bat, their top three all scored fifty-plus and a total of 288 for 4 proved 129 runs too many for Zimbabwe Under-19s.
Dan Lawrence provided the early impetus by hitting fast bowler William Mashinge for a hat-trick of fours in the fifth over. Then came a special hit for six over square leg, which showcased Lawrence’s strong wrists. He got to 50 off 54 balls and his pace was vital to England because the other opener Max Holden struggled to keep his strike-rate up – he was 6 off 17 by the end of the 10th over. Zimbabwe’s spinners did well though: Wesley Madhevere, the 15-year old, and Rugare Magarira gave away only 18 runs off six overs which led to Lawrence’s wicket in the 20th. England were 91 for 1 and out walked Burnham, with the responsibility to push the run-rate up. Holden, at the other end was, on 24 off 48 balls.
Holden’s nickname of “little chef” was a clear giveaway of his batting style considering the big “chef” is England Test captain Alastair Cook. It is easy to imagine that he has been placed at the top of the order for the big-hitters to bat around, and this England side do have some. Burnham made up for a slow start – 9 off 22 balls – with a six and a four off Zimbabwe captain Brendan Mavuta’s legspin in the 27th over. Holden reached his fifty off his 87th delivery but was dismissed off his 90th looking to make a little too much of a back of a length ball from Mashinge.
That though did not end up in Zimbabwe’s favour. The next man in, Aneurin Donald, a former England Under-19 captain, contributed to a fourth-wicket partnership of 52 runs off 33 balls and when he fell Burnham took over. He hammered a couple of sixes to move to 92 but his spotlight was stolen when 17-year old Sam Curran smashed five fours in the 48th over bowled by Mashinge. He had been disappointed not to get a single off the second ball, and the next four disappeared.
Burnham finished unbeaten on 106 off 104 balls with five fours and six sixes and there was even enough time before the lunch break for England’s bowlers to knock over the Zimbabwe openers. The only resistance came from Jeremy Ives, who made 91 off 132 with 12 fours, a lot of them through the arc between cover and point. He was strong against pace bowling, especially with the cut shot, but might need to work on getting singles against spin. The contest was done long before the match was and the question of if Ives might reach his century was answered in the negative with an emphatic inswinger from Sohaib Maqsood, who finished with 4 for 39.
An all-round display from Gidron Pope and a blazing century from Shamar Springer lifted West Indies Under-19 to a 262-run win over Fiji Under-19s, who ended the group stage without once having crossed the 100 mark. Pope’s 76 at the top of the order got West Indies off to a solid start, before they lost four wickets in the space of scoring 20 runs to slip to 140 for 4. From there, Springer and Jyd Goolie added 157 for the fifth wicket, before Goolie fell in the 46th over for 66 off 75 balls. Springer was out in the final over for 106 off 78, having struck 10 fours and four sixes, and West Indies finished on 340 for 7. Six of the seven wickets went to the medium-pacer Cakacaka Tikoisuva.
Fiji had been bowled out for 72 against England and 81 against Zimbabwe. Now they were bowled out for 71, their innings folding inside 28 overs with fast bowler Alzarri Joseph (3 for 15) and offspinner Pope (4 for 24) in the thick of the action. As against England, Peni Vuniwaqa waged lonely resistance, scoring 29 off 49 balls, with five fours.
Namibia Under-19s reached the quarter-finals with a sensational upset, pulling off a two-wicket win over South Africa Under-19s in Cox’s Bazar. Defending champions South Africa, who also lost their opening game against Bangladesh, are now out of contention for the quarter-finals.
The match-winner in a low-scoring game was Lohan Louwrens, who came in at 10 for 2 and scored an unbeaten 58 to steer Namibia to a target of 137. Louwrens did not receive too much support apart from Charl Brits, who scored 27 and added 52 with him for the sixth wicket, as Namibia steadily lost wickets. But he stayed there even as Brits, Chrischen Olivier and Francois Rautenbach fell in the space of 13 balls, steering Namibia home in the 40th over.
Having chosen to bat, South Africa were on the back foot right from the start. Left-arm seamer Fritz Coetzee dismissed both their openers within the first three overs, and reduced them to 2 for 2. Namibia kept chipping away at the wickets, and South Africa were 60 for 8 and in danger of falling short of 100 before Willem Ludick (42) and Lutho Sipamla (17) averted that danger with a 55-run ninth-wicket stand. Sipamla and last man Ziyaad Abrahams ensured South Africa batted out the 50 overs, but could only stretch the score to 136 for 9. Coetzee finished with three wickets, and Michael van Lingen with four.
The win was Namibia’s first over a Test-playing opposition in a Youth ODI since they beat Sri Lanka Under-19s in the 2002 edition of the tournament.
Bangladesh were reduced to 17 for 2 in the eighth over, after they were asked to bat. Shanto then walked in took control of their innings with an unbeaten 113 off 117 that included ten fours. He was a part of two century partnerships, adding 101 with Saif Hassan for the third wicket, after which he put a 100-run stand with captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz (51) for the fourth wicket. By the time Miraz fell in the 48th over, Bangladesh were at a commanding 218 for 4. Shanto then propelled the hosts to 256 for 5 by the end of their innings with Bangladesh taking 30 off the last two overs. During his innings, Shanto overtook Pakistan’s Sami Aslam to become the leading run-scorer in Youth ODIs with 1747 runs in 54 matches. Mohammad Ghaffar was the pick of Scotland’s bowlers with 4 for 60.
Neil Flack and Rory Johnston gave Scotland a steady start in their chase, adding 48 for the first wicket. Bangladesh’s bowlers, however, struck to reduce Scotland to 113 for 5 by the 38th over. Except Azeem Dar (50 off 89), the rest of Scotland’s batsmen could not manage a score of above 30 and they were eventually bundled out 142 in the 48th over.
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