Namibia cemented their place in the ICC Under-19 World Cup Plate Championship semi-finals with a 141-run victory over a Canadian side that fought doggedly in the field only to collapse with the bat
Chris Rosie01-Feb-2002Namibia cemented their place in the ICC Under-19 World Cup Plate Championship semi-finals with a 141-run victory over a Canadian side that fought doggedly in the field only to collapse with the bat.With Scotland breathing down their neck for the last semi-final position, the African team started as if in a hurry for not just the victory but the bonus point as well. Having been put in on a run-filled Colin Maiden Park No 2 pitch, they raced to 50 in the seventh over, charged past 100 in the 14th and looked set to bulldoze Canada into the ground.However, as fast they were scoring, they were also losing wickets, two of them to the Canadian medium-to-fast left-armer, Umar Bhatti, in his first two overs, one an acrobatic high-leaping caught-and-bowled.The third and fourth wickets came courtesy of astute bowling changes by the captain, Ashish Bagai. He introduced Christopher Argunen in the 15th over when Stefan Swanepoel looked to be getting away, and brought back Bhatti in the 16th.In his first over, the left-arm spinner had Burton van Rooi (32) offering a dolly catch to Soham Anjaria at mid-on with a shot totally out of keeping with the bludgeoning that had produced an 85-run third-wicket partnership with Swanepoel.In his second over, Argunen added the new batsman, Johan Nel (4), to his bag. In between times, Bhatti had the Namibian captain caught behind by Bagai for a belligerent 49. It was not a pretty innings – produced from a wide-leg stance with little foot movement more akin to baseball – but it was certainly effective.With Namibia 108/5, the recovery was placed in the hands of Michael Durant and Hugo Ludik. Aggression was shelved as wicket maintenance became paramount. After 100 had come from 82 balls, the next 50 came up in 80.Their progress was made more difficult by a searching examination from the Canadian spinner Anjaria. The wicket of Ludik in his last over was just reward, leaving him with one for 38 from his 10.With Durant, Ludik had taken the score through to 170 before his departure for 30. Durant then had valuable assistance from Oliver Glen-Spyron as they continued the hunt for a total that would shut Canada out of the match and raise their bonus-point prospects.But the Canadians refused to lie down. In an over where he went for 10, yet another spinner, Ajay Minhas, he of the leg-spin variety, trapped Glen-Spyron in front for 24 after the Namibian pace bowler had added 48 with Durant for the seventh wicket. The next three wickets, two of them from run outs, produced just seven runs as Namibia were brought up short at 226 in the 46th over.There was time for Durant to reach his invaluable 50 from 83 balls, finishing unbeaten on 53.While Anjaria was the most economical of the bowlers, Bhatti with three for 48 from 10 and Argunen, two for 24 from five, led the wicket-taking.Canada started with a flurry – 28 from seven overs before the scheduled lunch break, the Namibian innings having ended early. However, unlike Namibia they never recovered.At one end they found a sharp medium pacer in van Rooi, against whom they could not score, the right-armer conceding just eight off five overs for his one wicket. There was no relief when he was replaced, the leg spinner Tobias Verwey giving up just 11 runs from his seven overs.From the other end came the main wicket-takers, first the medium pace of Nel, who bemused the Canadians to the extent that he ended with three for 15 from his 10. And then Durant, who had gone for 10 off his first over, came back to cement his man-of-the-match performance, adding to his unbeaten 53 with three for 21 from 6.4 overs.The Canadians batted as if in a straight-jacket. Bhatti, top scorer after extras (22) with 16, tried to break out and became Durant’s first victim, caught on the straight boundary. Anjaria, on the other hand, never broke the shackles, coming in at number eight and facing 44 balls for his unbeaten 0.The agony was finally ended in the 35th over, Durant, appropriately enough, claiming the last wicket, trapping the Canadian all-rounder Nathan Richards, batting at No 11 with a hand injury from a previous game, for nine.Canada all out for 85, and now heading home with the satisfaction of two points from their round-robin tie with Bangladesh; Namibia on the back of this performance and Scotland’s failure against Nepal heading for Christchurch and the semi-finals.