Young Chevrons through to World Cup Super Six
IN Newman Nyamhuri, Zimbabwe might have a star in the making.
The 18-year-old fast bowler was the star of the show as Zimbabwe registered their first win at the ongoing ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, courtesy of an eight-wicket victory over Namibia at the Diamond Oval, Kimberly, in Cape Town, South Africa, yesterday.
The win means the Young Chevrons join Australia and Sri Lanka as the Group C teams that progress to the next round of the tournament.
Under the new format, three teams from each group move on to the rebranded Super Six stage. Prior to the match, both Zimbabwe and Namibia were yet to win a single game after going down to table-toppers Australia and Sri Lanka. This put high stakes on the Southern African derby, with the winner progressing, while the loser is relegated to the placement play-offs.
Zimbabwe skipper Matthew Schonken won the toss and sent in the Namibian Eagles to bat.
It was a decision that turned out to be the right call, as Nyamhuri led a well-disciplined Zimbabwean bowling attack to restrict Namibia to 146 runs for eight from their allotted 50 overs.
The Zimbabwe left-arm seamer showed control and speed as he got key wickets at key moments in the match to finish with figures of four for 21 runs from his 10 overs.
Nyamhuri also bowled two maidens as if to punctuate his superiority over Namibia.
Fellow opener Kohl Eksteen got the ball rolling when he had Namibia opener Hansie de Villiers trapped leg before wicket after only having scored the solitary run.
Along with JW Visagie, his partner at the top of the Namibian batting order, Gerhard Janse van Rensburg, tried to stabilise the Eagles’ innings but no avail.
Nyamhuri was the chief tormentor of the Eagles batting innings at every turn.
First, the 18-year-old bowled out Visagie (8), after which he had van Rensburg caught in the deep by Anesu Kamuriwo.
He also bowled out Zacheo van Vuuren (11) to leave Namibia reeling at 58 runs for four, before returning later in his innings to bowl out Peter Daniel Blignaut (7) to wrap up his work for the day.
To only credit Nyamhuri for Zimbabwe’s victory would be a gross injustice as the entire team was on top of their game with both bat and ball.
Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Ryan Simbi also got in on the action, taking three wickets for 20 runs from his 10 overs.
The spin bowler also had two maidens. A total of eight maiden overs were bowled on the day. Zimbabwe then made light work of the target, led by Panashe Taruvinga’s half-century, which saw the Young Chevrons finish on 147 for two with 87 balls to spare.
Taruvinga top-scored for Zimbabwe with an unbeaten 59 runs off 115 balls that featured seven boundaries.
He found assistance from the duo of Ryan Kamwemba (16 runs off 19 balls) and Brandon Sunguro’s 29 runs off 72 balls.
The Namibian bowlers hardly troubled Zimbabwe, with only Jack Brassell (one for 24 rubs) and van Rensburg (one for 30 runs) taking any wickets.
A GAME-CHANGING initiative is looming in both the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and Northern Region Soccer League (NRSL) following the introduction of an electronic system of assessing players and team performances.
Local football has been lagging behind most top leagues across the globe, including in neighbouring countries such as South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia, who can easily provide a player or team’s statistics and video footage.
However, the country’s elite league and the second-tier NRSL have reportedly embraced the technology used by Irish firm SmrtStats and their Austrian partners PlayerHunter through their local representatives.
SmrtStats have chosen Legends Football Academy director Farai Dhliwayo as their country representative.