West Indies Under-19 Beaten Again In World Cup Warm-Up

By Ravendra Madholall at Providence
West Indies suffered the indignity of another disappointing defeat at the International Cricket Council Under-19 50-overs World Cup warmup tournament on Wednesday to South Africa who made it to a three-wicket margin.

At the scenic Guyana National Stadium, Providence, West Indies batted first after invited by the Africans on a docile track.

It was West Indies’ second successive loss having went down to India by 108 runs few days ago at the same facility.

South Africa made the target looked moderate coasting to 191-7 in the 36th over responding to the 189 all out off 43.2 overs.

Skipper and middle-order batsman George Van Heerden hit a responsible, unbeaten 61. The elegant right-Hander also shared an impressive 68-run third-wicket stand with the inform Dewald Brevis who carved out an equally attractive 50 before he was caught and bowled.

On a lightning fast outfield, the two mixed solid defense with occasional aggression against the hosts’ spin-pace combination. Ethan-John Cunningham anchored things at the top with a pivotal 36 and simultaneously helped laid a good foundation for the chase.

Pacer McKenny Clarke grabbed three wickets for 34 runs from five overs. Anderson Mahase also Bowled cleverly with his left-arm spin and was able to claim 2-31 in his 8-overs outing while there was one apiece for Onaje Amory and Shiva Sankar.

Earlier, West Indies, who were bowled out for 170 in pursuit of India’s respectable 278, again did not utilize the full quota of 50-overs. They suffered early setbacks and the frequency of wickets could cause much concern for them just ahead of the mega event which bowls off Friday also at the Guyana National Stadium.

Their captain Ackeem Auguste batted with superb confidence though timing the ball impeccably well to knock a 46-ball 52 laced with 6 fours and two effortless sixes.

Carlon Bowen-Tuckett was more patient to assist with 45 while first-match top-scorer and opener Matthew Nandu weighed in with 19.

Pacer Matthew Boast was intimidating bagging three wickets for nine runs off four overs. Left-arm seamer Aphiwe Mnyauda and slow bowler Michael Copeland were the other main supporters with two victims each.

Meanwhile, in a Super-over, South Africa won after defending 16 runs. West Indies got to 14.

West Indies will open their campaign against Australia. They are placed in Group D alongside Sri Lanka and Scotland. After Friday, they will move across to St. Kitts and Nevis where they will clash with Scotland on Monday and Sri Lanka next Friday.

After that it, will be the Plate segment before the top teams will converge at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda on February 5th for the championship game. Sixteen teams are vying for World Cup glory. Bangladesh humbled India in the last under-19 World Cup, two years ago in South Africa.