South Africa 103 for 1 (Pretorius 53*, Stolk 37, Kamuriwo 1-31) beat Zimbabwe 102 (Ronak 32, Maphaka 5-34, Luus 3-25) by nine wickets
Left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka picked up 5 for 34, including three of the top four batters, as South Africa crushed Zimbabwe in the Super Sixes of the Under-19 World Cup. Maphaka’s spell helped bundle Zimbabwe out for 102, with the hosts’ top order hunting down the target in less than 14 overs.
Zimbabwe were reduced to 16 for 4 at the start of the fifth over, and three of those wickets had gone to Maphaka. He had struck first in the third over of the innings, removing both Brandon Sunguro and Campbell Macmillan without scoring. That is when Ronak Patel and Ryan Kamwemba got down for a repair job with a half-century stand.
But right-arm quick Tristan Luus ensured that partnership didn’t last too long, as he started the 16th over by dismissing Ronak for a better-than-a-run-a-ball 32, which included five boundaries. Four balls later, Luus struck again to get the opposition captain Matthew Schonken for a duck. That started another slide for Zimbabwe, who lost 6 for 33 in a middle and lower-order collapse.
Maphaka returned to nab two lower-order wickets, as he and Luus wrapped the tail up.
South Africa’s chase got off to a flyer, with openers Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Steve Stolk pumping boundaries regularly. The first four overs fetched 42, while the powerplay ended with 86 runs already getting knocked off. Next ball, Anesu Kamuriwo got Stolk for 37, but Pretorius continued in a hurry, getting to his fifty off 38 balls to end the 12th over.
Come the 14th over, David Teeger hit the winning runs, as South Africa won with plenty to spare. The victory put South Africa at second place in Group 2, with the margin of victory giving their net run rate a massive boost.
Borson, Jibon the stars as Bangladesh take down Nepal
Bangladesh 170 for 5 (Ariful 59*, Alam 55, Bhandari 5-44) beat Nepal 169 (Bikram 48, Borson 4-19, Jibon 3-34) by five wickets
After opting to bat, Nepal did not have a great start and lost three wickets for just 29 runs. Captain Dev Khanal and Bishal Bikram KC stabilised the innings by adding 62 off 115 balls for the fourth wicket. The stand was broken when Jishan Alam dismissed Khanal for 35.
Bikram and Gulsan Jha had steered the side to 121 for 4 when Jibon triggered a collapse that had Nepal losing five wickets in 21 runs. He dismissed Jha and Dipak Bohara in his successive overs before Borson cleaned up Bikram, for 48, and the tail. Despite the last wicket adding 27, Nepal were all out for 169 on the penultimate ball of their innings.
Nepal’s hopes of a comeback were dashed by Alam, who raced to 55 off just 43 balls at the top of the order. After he got out, Ariful Islam took over and smashed an unbeaten 59 off 38 to take Bangladesh over the line in the 26th over.
For Nepal, offspinner Subash Bhandari made regular strikes and took all five wickets that Bangladesh lost but there were not enough runs on the board.