The South African U19 team were dumped out of the semifinal running at ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Namibia and Zimbabwe, after falling to a six-wicket defeat against Australia U19s at the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek on Sunday.
The SA U19s had to win to stay in the semifinal hunt, after entering the Super Six phase with no points after being beaten by Afghanistan U19s and West Indies U19s in the pool phase.
But a poor batting performance ended any slim chance they may have had of upsetting one of the tournament favourites, after they lost regular wickets over their innings and were skittled all out for 118 batting first.
Paul James top scored with 34 off 60 balls (1×4; 1×6), while opener Jorich van Schalkwyk, 26 off 55 (3×4), and captain Muhammed Bulbulia, 19 off 14 (3×4), were the only batters to show any sort of fight, while star all-rounder Jason Rowles was dismissed for just six, which proved to be a huge blow.
Fighting bowlers
The SA U19 bowlers however never gave up, led by brilliant opening pair JJ Basson, 3/41, and Bayanda Majola, 1/23, who can consider himself extremely unlucky not to have gotten a few more wickets, as they kept the Aussie batters honest over their chase.
But in the end the low total was not enough to seriously threaten, as opener Steven Hogan top scored with 43 off 73 balls (5×4), while Jayden Draper, 21no off 23 (2×4; 1×6), and Alex Lee-Young, 21no off 33 (1×4; 1×6), guided them home in the 33rd over.
“I am extremely proud (of our fight). I thought that was a brilliant effort in the second half of the game. After a tough start (with the bat) in the morning, the guys showed fight in the back end and there was some really good energy in the field,” said Bulbulia after the match.
“I thought if we had scored around 250-260 we would have really been in the game with the way the wicket played. We weren’t able to build partnerships, and that cost us. We lost wickets in clusters and it wasn’t easy from there.”
The SA U19s next take on Sri Lanka U19s in their final Super Six match on Thursday, before closing out their tournament with a placing match.
“It’s extremely important (for us to finish the Super Six phase well). As South Africans we play with a lot of pride and a lot of dignity. So going into the match against Sri Lanka U19s in Bulawayo, it is going to be really important for us to take those two points,” concluded Bulbulia.
