Zimbabwe in the U19 world Cup - plate round reports

The following reports are taken from those sent by manager Wyn Justin-Smith to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union on the matches played by the Zimbabwe Under-19 team in the Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka.

ZIMBABWE v NAMIBIA (21 January)

NAMIBIA 231/5 (50 overs) (G Ewing 2/30, G Croxford 2/30). ZIMBABWE 233/7 (48.2 overs) (T Taibu 59, T Friend 37, G Croxford 41*). Zimbabwe won by three wickets.

Travis Friend again captained the side as Mluleki Nkala was rested again before the game against Bangladesh on Sunday in Colombo. Namibia won the toss and elected to bat on a very flat track. They got off to a good start, putting on 68 runs for the first wicket. Again Gavin Ewing was the most economical bowler, going for just three runs an over.

When we batted, we lost two wickets for 53 before Tatenda Taibu and Greg Lamb put on 60 runs for the third wicket, while Guy Croxford and Travis Friend also put on 60 for the fifth wicket. After the game 'Tiger' Lance, the Namibian coach, was very complimentary about Taibu's batting.

After today's result we think we should be at least in one of the plate semi-finals due to be played on Tuesday 25 January, with the final to be played on Thursday 27 January.

ZIMBABWE v BANGLADESH (23 January)

BANGLADESH 270/7 (50 overs) (G Ewing 10-2-30-3, C McMillan 2/49). ZIMBABWE 195/9 (50 overs) (M Munsen 41, H Henderson 27*, G Ewing 24). Bangladesh won by 75 runs.

Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat on a hard, track that gave little assistance to the bowlers. They got off to a good start, scoring 122 for the first wicket, and although we captured another two quick wickets we could not press home the advantage, as they put on 71 for the seventh wicket.

Our batsmen never really got on top of their bowling and found the wicket playing slower as the day went on. No real partnerships developed, the best being 49 runs for the ninth wicket.

As South Africa won their match today, we will travel to Kandy tomorrow to play them in the semi-final on Tuesday 25 January.

PLATE SEMI-FINAL: ZIMBABWE v SOUTH AFRICA (25 January)

ZIMBABWE 179/7 (50 overs) (G Lamb 63, S Ervine 61). SOUTH AFRICA 180/2 (35.2 overs) (H Henderson 2/48). South Africa won by eight wickets.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat on a hard flat track that gave no assistance to the bowlers. We made a reasonable start, being 48 for two but then 50 for three before Greg Lamb and Sean Ervine put on 100 runs for the fourth wicket.

Having just 179 runs on the board was not enough against a strong batting line-up from South Africa. Hilton Henderson was the pick of our bowlers, although Mike Sherren also bowled economically.