Windhoek: Australia and Afghanistan dominated the ICC U19 World Cup against Ireland and South Africa respectively at the High Performance Oval in Windhoek on Friday.
In the opener, Steven Hogan’s brilliant century saw Australia beat Ireland by eight wickets.
Hogan shared a 186-run partnership with Nitesh Samuel to lay the foundation for a comfortable chase.
Ireland got off to a slow start with the bat as openers James West and Freddie Ogilvie struggled to find pace.
West fell for 11 runs, John James dismissed, Sebastian Dijkstra caught by Charles Lachmand in the 18th over.
Rob O’Brien then teamed up with Ogilby to gradually revive the innings, forming a 43-run partnership.
Offspinner Will Malajczuk ended Ogilvy’s resistance on 49 in the 29th over, and O’Brien continued the occasional attack, scoring 79 off 98 balls in the 49th over to help Ireland post a total of 235.
Malajchuk hit a four and a six in the opening over to get Australia’s chase off to a flying start. After he was dismissed in the third over, Hogan and Samuel took over, scoring half-centuries off 50 and 62 balls respectively.
He scored his century in the 21st over and Hogan reached his century in the 32nd over with 11 fours and a six off 97 balls.
Medium fast bowler Luke Murray caught Hogan for 115 to break the partnership, but Australia needed 20 runs by then.
Samuel remained unbeaten on 77 and combined with Ollie Peake to lead Australia to victory with 62 balls to spare.
In today’s third match, Afghanistan beat South Africa by 28 runs.
Batting first, Afghanistan posted 266-8 in 50 overs with Faisal Shinozada (81 off 95 balls), Khalid Ahmeduzai (74 off 102 balls) and Usairullah Niazai (51 off 51 balls) – with 3 half-centuries.
Shinozada’s innings included 8 fours and two sixes, while Ahmadzai hit 6 fours and a six, while Nyasa’s run-a-half century included eight fours.
In reply, South Africa were bowled out for 238 in 47.4 overs, with Jason Rawls scoring 98 off 93 balls, which included 9 fours and 3 sixes.
Korne Botha scored 25 runs with Lethabo Fahlamolaga and Daniel Boseman scoring 22 and 20 respectively.
Payanda Majola and Botha took 3 wickets each for Afghanistan and JJ Basan took one wicket.