Match report Zimbabwe Under-19s v Namibia 22 Jan 2004 by John Ward

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Scorecard:

Zimbabwe Under-19s v Namibia

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Namibia continued their successful tour of Zimbabwe with a 68-run victory over the national Under-19 team at Harare Sports Club. Although they did not bat as well as usual, their spinners were more than a match for the Zimbabwe Under-19 batsmen, who crumbled badly despite a superb innings of 76 from Sean Williams.

 

According to the Under-19 captain, Tino Mawoyo from Mutare, his team had done plenty of homework on the aggressive Namibian openers and knew where to bowl. They were not accurate enough to achieve their aims in full, but they certainly gave J B Burger and Riaan Walters fewer deliveries to drive than had the Zimbabwe A bowlers, and the overcast conditions and damp in the pitch encouraged seam movement.

 

Elton Chigumbura produced a superb first ball that cut in sharply from the off and just cleared the top of Burger’s stumps. But only six overs were possible before the rain began, driving the players from the field. At this point Namibia were 38 without loss, Burger on 22 and Walters 8.

 

Half an hour was lost. Immediately play resumed, the drizzle restarted, although the players continued, and Burger drove Tino Panyangara straight into the hands of cover, without a run added. The pitch was still giving the bowlers some help, prompting a few false shots from the batsmen, but they were too inexperienced and inaccurate to apply pressure. Walters and Danie Keulder were able to keep the score moving easily, until a popping ball had Keulder (23) pushing a return catch to left-arm spinner Sean Williams; 112 for two.

 

Williams looked to be exploiting the conditions best of the bowlers, and he soon snapped up Hugo Ludick, a more difficult return catch diving to his left off another ball that popped. Prosper Utseya then stepped in, having opener Walters caught at long on as he attempted a six; Walters scored 63 and again showed a lack of self-control on getting out.

 

Soon afterwards a mix-up resulted in Dion Kotze being sent back by S D Ackerman and run out for 12, a low throw bouncing off bowler Utseya’s knees on to the stumps. Disappointingly, Kotze stopped to argue the decision with umpire Duncan Frost, who stands no nonsense. The one adverse comment that can be made about the Namibian tourists is that several of their players criticize or argue with umpires on the field in a way that is no longer tolerated in international cricket. They were 153 for five in the 36th over.

 

The spinners continued to trouble the Namibian batsmen as long as their overs lasted, although Namibia, perhaps scorning their youth, sought too many big shots rather than working the ball around the field. Ackerman (8) was all at sea, bamboozled and stumped as Stanley Marisa came on to bowl his left-arm spin. Van Rooi was another stumping victim off Marisa, for 19, and then in the penultimate over of the innings he dismissed Melt van Schoor (20) to a juggled return catch and Bjorn Kotze (9) to a skyed catch taken by the keeper.

 

Michael Durant and Rudi van Vuuren were unbeaten with 2 and 7 respectively in their team’s total of 216 for nine. They must have been disappointed, but the conditions were not the best for batting and they did not make the best of them. Marisa with four for 22 in his six overs returned the best figures.

 

Brendan Taylor struggled at first, and in the seventh over the total was only 14. James Cameron, desperate to get the board moving, called for a risky single and was sent back, to be run out for 12.

 

Williams was promoted in an effort to get the board moving, and he did so immediately, swinging van Rooi over the square-leg boundary for six and then a four to fine leg. There were four overthrows and 16 came off the over, but this was to be the high point of the innings.

 

Taylor improved to reach 23, but never looked really confident, and was finally bowled by a faster ball from Dion Kotze. Two balls later and without addition, Tino Mawoyo turned Kotze to midwicket and was caught low down, reducing his team to 55 for three.

 

Craig Ervine scored 13 off 46 balls and by the time he was lbw to Keulder at 96 for four in the 32nd over, the required rate was more than six an over. Elton Chigumbura was keen to put things right, but perhaps tried to start too quickly and chopped a ball from J B Burger on to his wicket to depart for 5.

 

Williams was still pushing for runs, but lacked support at the other end. Colin de Grandhomme was run out for 7 in a vain effort to raise the tempo, and Tino Panyangara had a brief fling for 5 before holing out on the midwicket boundary. Williams and Prosper Utseya decided to go down in a blaze of glory, Williams finally falling for 76 to Keulder; if he hadn’t been caught at the wicket he would have been stumped. He scored more than half the team total, with Utseya bowled by Burger for 3 in the next over to leave Marisa unbeaten without scoring.

 

The total was 148, a disappointing total by the Under-19 players. On the evidence of this match and their brief series against Zimbabwe A in December, they are lacking in depth and still very raw. They have a few proven quality players, notably Taylor, Cameron, Chigumbura and Williams, but there are several others with first-class experience who have not done well for this team yet. More will have to put their hands up if the team is to do well at the Under-19 World Cup.

 

(Article: Copyright © 2004 John Ward)