By Peter Della Penna

In a very disappointing display, USA lost their ICC U-19 World Cup Plate Championship playoff match by five wickets to Zimbabwe on Monday afternoon at Nelson Park in Napier, New Zealand. Man of the Match Natsia M’Shangwe took 3 for 13 in the field for Zimbabwe before scoring 27 opening the innings to kickstart Zimbabwe’s chase.

After overnight and morning rain delayed the start of play, the match was reduced to 41 overs. Zimbabwe won the toss and didn’t hesitate to send USA in to bat, taking full advantage of the conditions in Napier.

Picture (Right): Andy Mohammed tries to cut this ball from Nathan Waller, but manages only to edge it behind to become USA's second wicket to fall.  [Picture Courtesy: Ganesh Sanap]

“The pitch had been under the covers for the last three or four hours so I thought the ball would do a little bit early on,” said Dylan Higgins, Zimbabwe U-19 captain.

While the bowlers did get the ball to move around quite a bit, USA’s batting put in a shocking performance to be all out for 115, which included six batsmen out without scoring. The first of those six was opener Steven Taylor, who sent a rank long hop from medium pacer Nathan Waller straight to Higgins at cover with the score at 4 in the second over. Greg Sewdial then joined Andy Mohammed and constructed a decent partnership of 34 runs, but it wound up being the biggest partnership of the innings for USA when Mohammed got out to a similar ball from Waller, edging it behind to the keeper Dean Mazhawidza for 9 to make it 38 for 2 in the 10th over.

After that, wickets tumbled at will for the Zimbabwean bowling attack. While Waller finished with three, it was M’Shangwe’s leg-spin that really dismantled USA. After clean bowling Shiva Vashishat for 17 to make it 91 for 6, the flood gates opened up and he teamed up with off-spinner Simon Mugava to rip through the tail as numbers eight through ten, Saami Siddiqui, Regis Burton and Hammad Shahid, all got out for ducks. Muhammad Asad Ghous was the last man out for 21, finishing behind extras, 24, and Sewdial, 35, as USA’s third highest scorer in the innings.

Post Match Interview vs. Zimbabwe with Shivnaraine from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

M’Shangwe set the tone for Zimbabwe’s batting order when he hit the first ball of the second innings for six off Naseer Jamali. He teamed up with Tinotenda Mutombodzi to put on 42 runs for the first wicket and from there Zimbabwe never looked back.

Saqib Saleem tried to give USA hope and should have had a wicket first ball when he came on in the eighth over as he got M’Shangwe to sky a top edge to midwicket, only for it to be put down by Ghous. It was one of four USA drops, none of which could be afforded with such a small total to defend. Saleem finished with four wickets as it was clear Zimbabwe were clueless against spin. However, the total of 115 was something that gave USA’s bowlers no chance to defend. Most likely 30 more runs would have been enough. Instead, Peter Moor finished with 21 not out to see Zimbabwe over the line by five wickets.

USA will now face Afghanistan in the 15th/16th place match on Wednesday at Nelson Park while Zimbabwe will play Hong Kong in the 13th/14th place game. The last time these teams played, Afghanistan beat USA by 36 runs at the World Cup Qualifier in Toronto last September.
 

Official Scorecard
ICC U-19 World Cup Plate Championship
USA vs. Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe won by 5 wickets
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field
Man of the Match: Natsia M’Shangwe

USA Batting
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
SR Taylor		0	3	0	0	ct Higgins bowled Waller
A Mohammed		9	28	1	0	ct Mazhawidza+ bowled Waller
GR Sewdial		35	45	5	0	ct Mazhawidza+ bowled Price
S Saleem		0	1	0	0	bowled Waller
RG Corns		0	5	0	0	ct Mazhawidza bowled Price
S Vashishat*		17	47	2	0	bowled M’Shangwe
MA Ghous		21	54	1	0	bowled Chatara
SM Siddiqui+		0	1	0	0	LBW Mugava
RG Burton		0	2	0	0	ct Waller bowled M’Shangwe
H Shahid		0	8	0	0	ct Waller bowled M’Shangwe
N Jamali		9	5	2	0	not out
Total Extras		24 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 3 leg byes, 21 wides)
Team Total		115 all out in 33.1 overs

Fall of wicket: 4/1 (Taylor), 38/2 (Mohammed), 40/3 (Saleem), 41/4 (Corns), 
69/5 (Sewdial), 91/6 (Vashishat), 96/7 (Siddiqui), 97/8 (Burton), 
99/9 (Shahid), 115/10 (Ghous). 

Zimbabwe Bowling	Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
T Chatara		5.1-1-11-1
N Waller		7-0-42-3
CW Price		6-0-18-2
SM Mugava		8-1-16-1
N M’Shangwe		6-1-13-3
DR Higgins		1-0-12-0

Zimbabwe Batting
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
N M’Shangwe		27	30	1	2	ct Corns bowled Saleem
TC Mutombodzi	39	57	5	0	ct Sewdial bowled Saleem
N Waller		2	10	0	0	bowled Saleem
M Zambuko		13	15	0	1	ct Sewdial bowled Saleem
DR Higgins*		10	27	1	0	ct Corns bowled Ghosu
PJ Moor		21	19	3	0	not out
A Lindsay		2	16	0	0	not out
Total Extras		5 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 1 leg bye, 4 wides)
Team Total 		119 for 5 in 29 overs

Did not bat: D Mazhawidza+, SM Mugava, CW Price, T Chatara.

Fall of wicket: 42/1 (M’Shangwe), 61/2 (Waller), 74/3 (Mutombodzi), 
95/4 (Zambuko), 105/5 (Higgins). 

USA Bowling		Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
N Jamali		4-0-19-0
H Shahid		3-0-14-0
S Saleem		9-1-38-4
MA Ghous		8-0-32-1
RG Corns		5-1-15-0