The SA U19s produced a poor showing at the U19 World Cup, losing four games while winning just one.
The South African U19 cricket team closed out a dismal ICC U19 World Cup campaign with a final Super Six loss against Sri Lanka U19s, by five wickets, at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Thursday afternoon.
It was a poor tournament for the SA U19s as they won just one game, a massive thrashing of lowly Tanzania U19s, while they lost four, including against Afghanistan U19s, West Indies U19s and Australia U19s.
They had snuck into the Super Six stage of the tournament with that win over Tanzania, despite going down to Afghanistan and West Indies in the pool phase, but any hopes of an improvement in the Super Six were dashed by the Aussies and Sri Lanka.
In their final match the SA U19s battled their way to a competitive 261/7 batting first, thanks to a solid century from opener Jorich van Schalkwyk.
It was the 96 run opening stand between Van Schalkwyk, 116 off 130 balls (13×4; 2×6), and Adnaan Lagadien, 46 off 57 (6×4; 1×6), that set them up for the total, and they were backed up further down the order by Paul James, 37no off 36 (2×4), and Michael Kruiskamp, 21no off 15 (1×4; 1×6).
Easy chase
Sri Lankan spinner Vigneshwaran Akash, 4/46, however didn’t let the SA U19s run away with it, and in the end that proved crucial as Viran Chamuditha, 110 off 94 balls (13×4; 1×6), Senuja Wekunagoda (48) and captain Vimath Dinsara (32) helped them chase down the score with 24 balls to spare.
Corne Botha, 2/37, and Michael Kruiskamp, 2/59, were the top wicket takers for the SA U19s.
Despite the poor team effort, a few players stood out at various stages of the tournament, and can be content with their performances.
Jason Rowles was their best player and top scored for his team with 280 runs in five innings at an average of 70, with a highest score of 125no against Tanzania, while he also took four wickets with the ball.
Van Schalkwyk, with 217 runs was second on their batting list, while Bulbulia was the only other player to hit a century, thanks to his 108 against Tanzania.
On the bowling front JJ Basson was their key wicket taker with nine scalps in four matches, including best figures of 5/23 against West Indies, followed by Bayanda Majola with seven wickets and Corne Botha with six.
