HARARE: England and Afghanistan recorded series wins in the ongoing ICC Men’s U19 World Cup in Harare and Windhoek on Sunday, beating Zimbabwe and West Indies respectively.
Batting first, Zimbabwe were restricted to 208-9 in 50 overs with skipper Simbarashe Mutsengarere unbeaten on 45 off 63 balls including 3 fours.
Dhruv Patel scored 36 runs off 53 balls with 3 fours and a six, while Gian Blignot and Dadenda Simukoro added 33 and 30 runs respectively.
For England, Manny Lumston took 3/38 in 10 overs, followed by Ralphie Albert and Farhan Ahmed who claimed two wickets each. Alex French and Luke Hands took a scalp each.
Ben Mayes and captain Thomas Reve’s brilliant half-centuries saw England chase down the target with the loss of just 2 wickets in 28 overs.
Thomas scored an unbeaten 86 off 66 balls with 7 fours and 4 sixes while Mayes scored 77 off 72 balls including 3 fours and 4 sixes.
Sheldon Masvidorera was the only wicket-taker for Zimbabwe, posting figures of 2/54 in six overs, with the rest of the bowlers going wicketless.
England are now top of the Group C points table after beating Pakistan at the same venue earlier on Friday to register their second straight win.
Batting first in the match, England were bowled out for 210, but managed to bowl Pakistan out for 173 to secure a 37-run victory and successfully defend their total.
In another match of the ongoing tournament, Nooristani Omarzai, Wahidullah Sadran and Qadir Stanikzai bowled brilliantly as Afghanistan beat West Indies by 138 runs.
Batting first, Afghanistan scored 262-6 in 50 overs thanks to Mahbub Khan’s brilliant 86 off 69 balls, including 10 fours and 2 sixes.
Opener Usman Sadat also played a key role, scoring 88 off 131 balls with 9 fours.
Vittal Lawes and Jakeem Pollard took 3 wickets each for West Indies.
Chasing 263, West Indies were bowled out for 124 in 33.2 overs, with Jewel Andrew top-scoring 57 off 70 balls, including 4 fours and 3 sixes, as the rest of the batsmen failed to put up any resistance.
For Afghanistan, Omarzai was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/16 in 7.2 overs, while Sadran and Stanikzai claimed three wickets each.
Meanwhile, the match between the USA and New Zealand U19 teams in Bulawayo ended in defeat due to continuous rain.
Batting first, the USA were restricted to 253-9 by Nitish Sudini, who top scored with 117 runs off 133 balls, including 12 fours and a six.
Adit Gappa scored 40 runs and Shiv Shani scored 33 runs.
For New Zealand, Flynn More returned with figures of 4/40 from 10 overs, while Mason Clarke took 3 wickets. Kalam Samson and Sinekit Reddy took one wicket each.
New Zealand, who were 12 for no loss in an over, were unable to resume their innings as rain dashed hopes of a resumption.