Young Chevrons ready for Super Six challenge
ZIMBABWE Cricket men’s under-19 team head coach Prosper Utseya believes his starlets are ready for the challenge when they begin their 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup Super-Six journey today.
The Young Chevrons are scheduled to face neighbours South Africa in what promises to be an exhilarating game of cricket in their first Super Six encounter at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom today and Utseya believes all is in place.
The match starts at 10am.
He said his team is ready and looking forward to the challenge.
Zimbabwe Under-19s go into the Super Six with zero points, something which gives them a slim chance of qualification to the semi-finals. However, Utseya is confident that they can do the unthinkable.
“The guys are super ready, we are starting to play well and our batting is starting to come together. We have dominated more with the ball but the guys are super ready and looking forward to the challenge.
“It (going in with zero points) makes it a bit challenging but very much achievable. What we just need is to make sure that when we win we win with a very good net run rate in both our matches and also hope for a favourable result in other matches,” said Utseya.
After today’s game against South Africa, the Young Chevrons will go on to face England on Saturday at the same venue. Zimbabwe qualified for the Super Six stage after they finished third in Group C and will now face two tricky tests in their quest to proceed to the next level of the global show-piece. The Young Chevrons go into the next stage with zero points as each team carries forward the points and net rate (NRR) they earned against fellow Super Six qualifying teams.
Zimbabwe only beat Namibia, who did not qualify for the Super Six.
The Super Six involves the top three sides from each of the four round-robin groups, with teams progressing from Groups A and D comprising one Group, and those from B and C the other. The six teams to make it from Groups A and D are India, Bangladesh, Ireland, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Nepal. South Africa, England, West Indies, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe progress from Groups B and C.
The teams will play two matches in the Super Six stage against their opponents from the corresponding group who finished in a different position in their group hence Zimbabwe (third in Group C) is facing South Africa (first in Group B) and England (second in Group B) in the Super Six.
The top two sides from the two Super Six groups will then progress to the semi-final stage. The two semi-finals are scheduled for February 6 and 8. The final is set to take place on February 11, with all three knockout games set to take place in Benoni.
Utseya said their qualification into the Super Six is a testament to the amount of work they have been putting in the past couple of years and the support they got from Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC).
“We are very happy considering the journey that has taken us to have reached this stage. It has been a two-year program and it hasn’t been easy but ZC has invested a lot in this program so for us to qualify, means a lot to the guys and also shows an improvement from the last Under-19 teams that failed to qualify so I’m very happy for the guys, our hard work is starting to pay off,” he said.
There, however, has been no update on fast bowler Kohl Eksteen who walked off the pitch against Namibia in what was suspected to be a back injury after attempting to take a catch.
ICC Men’s Under-19 CWC
Super Six fixtures today:
Nepal v Bangladesh (Bloemfontein), Australia v England (Kimberley), Zimbabwe v South Africa (Potchefstroom).