England make winning start to U19 World Cup, Zimbabwe defeat Papua New Guinea and more

After India clinched victory over South Africa in Group B on January 16, England defeated Bangladesh in their opening game of the ICC U19 World Cup in the West Indies.

Indians won despite posting a fighting but less-than-ideal total of 232 in their batting effort in the first half. They reached this score thanks largely to skipper Yash Dhull’s measured 82 off 100 balls, including 11 fours. Kaushal Tambe (35) and Shaik Rasheed (31) also contributed with useful thirties. 

During the run-chase, the Asian giants found bowling heroes in the form of left-arm spinner Vicky Ostwal, who bagged a five-fer (5/28), and pacer Raj Bawa (4/47). South Africa had No.3 Dewald Brevis playing a fine knock of 65, but the rest of the batting unit simply crumbled under pressure in Guyana.

Also read 👉 India are off to winning start at U19 World Cup after beating South Africa

In the England-Bangladesh in St Kitts, the European U19s dismissed the defending champions for just 97 in the first half, before chasing the paltry score down at the loss of only three wickets. In a sorry-looking scorecard, No.11 Ripon Mondol (33) was the only batter to cross the 20-mark for Bangladesh.

In U19 World Cup match v ENG,
Bangladesh's number eleven Ripon Mondol scores 33 when no one else scored more than 14!

The ratio of No.11's score to next best is a staggering 2.35. This is the highest ratio across all levels of international cricket (Men/Women/U19).#U19WorldCup

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) January 16, 2022

Mondol (4/16) was the star of the show with the ball for the Three Lions, before measured batting efforts from Jacob Bethell (44) and James Rew (26*) took the junior three lions through with almost 25 overs left in the innings. 

In other tournament matches played on Saturday, Zimbabwe dominated Papua New Guinea, Ireland defeated Uganda and UAE overcame Canada in their respective opening group contests. 

Well done to the player of the match, captain Emmanuel Bawa, after his century powered Zimbabwe to an excellent start at the ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup 2022. The team beat Papua New Guinea by 228 runs in Trinidad and Tobago. pic.twitter.com/7EwiMrevyj

— SRC Zimbabwe (@ZimbabweSrc) January 16, 2022

The Zimbabweans posted a mammoth 321/9, with a century from skipper Emmanuel Bawa (100) and a fifty from David Bennett (58). With the ball, the African full-members had Ngenyasha Zvinoera (2/25), Brian Bennett (2/20) and Victor Chirwa (2/11) taking two wickets each to bundle PNG out for just 93.

 The Ireland-Uganda fixture was much closer as the emerging African associates went as deep as 197 in their run-chase of 237. The Irish had posted 236/9, thanks to a hundred from Joshua Cox (111).