The South African U19 team move onto the Super Six phase of the U19 Cricket World Cup in Namibia and Zimbabwe, despite a disappointing 55-run loss against the West Indies U19s in their final pool match at the High Performance Oval in Windhoek on Thursday.
The SA U19s can count themselves lucky that three out of the four teams in their pool progress to the Super Six stage, as it allowed them to sneak through despite suffering two losses, after their opening match of the tournament saw them go down to Afghanistan U19s by 28 runs.
Their sole win was a crushing 329-run win over pool D whipping boys Tanzania U19s, who were unfortunately completely outclassed in the tournament as they suffered heavy defeats against table topping Afghanistan and second placed Windies as well, to drop out winless.
In the match the SA U19s fought back well with the ball, after it seemed like the Windies were on for a big total, thanks to a sparkling century from Zachary Carter, 114 off 104 balls (8×4; 8×6).
But having reached 193/4 in the 37th over, Carter was bowled by Paul James, which started a collapse that saw the Windies lose their last six wickets for 41 runs, to be bowled all out for 234.
JJ Bason was the star bowler for the SA U19s, picking up the first four wickets and finishing with superb figures of 5/23 in his 10 overs, while Jason Rowles, 2/44, backed him up well.
SA U19 chase
The SA U19 chase never really got going, as whenever it seemed like they were building a partnership, they would lose wickets in clumps, which led to them crashing to 179 all out.
Rowles was once again the key batter for his side, striking 46 off 40 (4×4; 2×6), but once he became the fifth wicket to fall with the score on 115, the game was practically over at that stage.
Lethabo Phahlamohlaka, 26 off 20 (1×4; 3×6), and Jorich van Schalkwyk, 20 off 28 (2×4; 1×6) were the only other batters to get out of the teens, while Windies medium pacer Shaquan Belle upstaged Bason, with fantastic figures of 6/40.
“That was extremely disappointing. I thought it was a really good effort with the ball from the boys and in the field as well, and that it was a very chaseable score that was posted,” admitted SA U19 captain Mohammad Bulbulia after the match.
“Every match from here on is a must-win game for us and we are going to try and win every game that is in front of us.”
The SA U19s will now face a tough Super Six stage, with them set to take on the top two teams in pool A, who will be 2024 champions Australia U19s, and the Sri Lanka U19s, and they will likely need to win both those matches to stand a chance of making it to the tournament semifinals.
