Cricket news round-up – January 23: Zimbabwe set to save Test despite Mathews’s career-best score

Zimbabwe need 127 to save the Harare Test with all ten wickets in hand despite a double hundred from Angelo Mathews; and South Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and New Zealand won their respective matches in the Under-19 World Cup.

Mathews dominates but Zimbabwe still in it

Zimbabwe finished Day 4 at Harare on 30 without loss, still 127 runs behind in the second innings. In other words, they need to bat for the whole – or at least five hours – of Day 5 to save the Test, a task not impossible on a slow pitch.

Resuming on 295/4, Sri Lanka declared their innings closed on 515/9 as soon as Angelo Mathews (200*) brought up his maiden double hundred. Mathews added 98 with Dhananjaya de Silva and 136 with Niroshan Dickwella, both of whom scored 63 each. Sikandar Raza finished with 3/62 and Victor Nyauchi with 3/69.

South Africa Under-19s steamroll Canada

After losing to Afghanistan, hosts South Africa finally won in the Under-19 World Cup, against Canada in a Group D match – by a whopping 150-run margin. Asked to bat, South Africa piled up 349/8, largely due to Bryce Parsons (121 in 91 balls), Tyrese Karelse (60 in 51), and Jonathan Bird (54 in 49), even as Akhil Kumar took 4/56.

In response, Benjamin Calitz (62*) was the only one to put up any resistance for Canada, as they were bowled out for 199. The wickets were shared by five South Africans, of whom Tiaan van Vuuren (2/24) had the best figures.

Afghanistan Under-19s qualify for quarter-finals…

Afghanistan Under-19s followed their win against South Africa with a 150-run thrashing of the UAE to reach the top eight. Afghanistan first put up 265/6 thanks to Ibrahim Zadran (87) and Rahmanullah (81).

Just like the South Africans, the UAE batsmen failed to counter the wiles of leg-spinner Shafiqullah Zadran, who followed his 6/15 with 5/23. Noor Ahmad took 3/30 as well as UAE collapsed to 105.

… as do Pakistan Under-19s

Pakistan Under-19s became the second team from Group C, after Bangladesh, to reach the quarterfinals of the Under-19 World Cup. Asked to bat, Pakistan scored 294/9 thanks to Mohammad Haris’ 48-ball 81; Haris was supported by Fahad Munir (53) and Qasim Akram (54 in 50) even as Dylan Grant took 3/46.

Zimbabwe started well, reaching 186/2 inside 36 overs thanks to Wesley Madhevere (53) and Milton Shumba (58) before Tahir Hussain (3/42) and Abbas Afridi (3/55) bowled them out for 256.

New Zealand Under-19s win humdinger

New Zealand Under-19s became the first non-Asian side in the tournament to beat an Asian side. Adithya Ashok (3/38) first reduced Sri Lanka to 141/6, before Sonal Dinusha (46) and Ahan Wickramasinghe (64 in 48) took them to 242/9.

The New Zealand charge was led by Rhys Mariu (86) and Beckham Wheeler-Greenall (80), who took them to 158/2. The Sri Lankans then stemmed the flow of runs. At one point New Zealand needed 26 in 3 overs; they got there with a ball to spare.

The defeat knocked Sri Lanka out of the tournament.