Zimbabwe Under-19s – 321-9 in 50 overs (Emmanuel Bawa 100, David Bennett 58, Panashe Taruvinga 36; Rasan Kevau 3/65, Christopher Kilapat 2/32, Junior Morea 2/59)
Papua New Guinea Under-19s – 93 all out in 35 overs (Malcolm Aporo 15, Barnabas Maha 15, Ryan Ani 12; Victor Chirwa 2/11, Brian Bennett 2/20, Ngenyasha Zvinoera 2/25)
Zimbabwe Under-19s won by 228 runs
Captain Emmanuel Bawa gave Zimbabwe Under-19s an excellent start to the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 by smashing a fine century in their first match against Papua New Guinea at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Saturday.
He scored exactly 100 in a superb team score of 321 for nine wickets, which led to a huge 228-run victory for the side.
The Zimbabwe Under-19s won the toss and opted to bat first.
They soon lost their first wicket, that of Steven Saul for nine, but after that their batters flourished.
Bawa came in next to join Panashe Taruvinga, and they took the score to 84 in the 19th over before Taruvinga was dismissed for 36.
Then followed the partnership of the innings, as Bawa and David Bennett thrashed the bowling to put on 100 for the third wicket in 15 overs.
Bennett scored 58 of those before he was bowled at 184, having faced 63 balls and hit a six and six fours.
The next man, Brian Bennett, hit out furiously to score 23 off only 14 balls, and then Connor Mitchell came in to play a good innings as Bawa approached his century.
Bawa was out for exactly 100, scored off 95 balls with two sixes and 10 fours, and the next two batters quickly followed him back to the pavilion, dismissed as they tried to hit out during the last few overs of the innings.
The score was then 263 for seven, but Mitchell was now joined by Victor Chirwa, who hit spectacularly.
Both of them scored 35, and Chirwa’s came off only 16 balls, with two sixes and two fours.
After 50 overs the Zimbabweans had reached the excellent score of 321 for nine wickets.
Rasan Kevau was the most successful of the Papua New Guinea bowlers, with three wickets for 65 in his 10 overs.
There were two wickets each for Junior Morea and Christopher Kilapat, but John Kariko was the most economical, taking one for 40 in his nine overs.
After this the Papua New Guinea Under-19 team had an impossible act to follow, and were soon in trouble against the Zimbabwe Under-19 bowlers.
None of their batters were able to dominate the good bowling and those who tried soon perished.
Their top scorers were Malcolm Aporo at number three and their captain, Barnabas Maha, at number five, who both scored 15 with steady innings, but could never approach the scoring rate necessary.
Aue Oru at number was the only batter able to hit two boundaries, so dominant was the Zimbabwe Under-19s bowling, before he was out for 10.
The final total was 93, scored off 35 overs.
It was a good experience for the six Zimbabwe Under-19 bowlers, who were each able to enjoy a bowling spell of at least five overs, and five of them took wickets, with two scalps each to Ngenyasha Zvinoera and Brian Bennett, the opening bowlers, as well as to Chirwa.
Their fielders also achieved two run-outs.
It was a very encouraging start for the Zimbabwe Under-19s, who will face a much sterner test when they play the Pakistan Under-19s on Monday.
