Ireland Under 19's shook off the winter cobwebs as they battled back strongly to beat Zimbabwe by 17 runs in a hard-fought youth ODI in South Africa.
Batting first, the young Irish shook off the early loss of Jordan Neill to build a position of real strength.
Bready left-hander Gavin Roulston hit nine boundaries as he top-scored with 81, sharing stands of 87 for the second wicket with CSNI's Ryan Hunter, and 88 for the third with Kian Hilton.
Gavin Roulston
Hilton, who has just signed for Cliftonville Academy, was particularly fluent in his better than even time half century, hitting five fours and a six in his 56 from 53 balls.
From 192 for 2 though, Pete Johnston's side lost their way, choosing the wrong options at times, which meant instead of pushing on towards 300, they were dismissed for 265.
Given that this was their first outing outdoors since the end of the season, they could be forgiven for the rustiness that will certainly improve in the coming weeks.
That was certainly true with the ball, as the new ball pairing of Finn Lutton and Olly Riley, as well as Jordan Neill conceded a flurry of extras.
Openers Ryan Kamweba and Panashe Taruvinga shared an opening stand of 152 in 26 overs that looked to steering the African side to a comprehensive win.
However, the breakthrough came with the run out of Taruvinga (40) by a direct hit from Scott Macbeth attempting a quick single to give Kamweba his century.
That opened the door and it was pushed further ajar by the wicket of Kamweba (103) - the first of three wickets for CIYMS left-arm spinner Carson McCullough (3-36).
The hard work the Irish put into their fielding over the winter months certainly paid off with some stunning efforts by them proving the difference as they wrestled control of the contest.
Lutton (2-44) and Riley (1-39) took wickets at crucial times, while Neill (3-42) wrapped up the tail to seal a 17-run win.
The teams will meet again tomorrow, before Ireland take on North West Colts on Sunday.
Ireland will once again face Zimbabwe on Sunday (14th) in the first of their two official ICC warm-up games, before taking on Namibia two days later on Jan 16th.
The tournament proper begins with a clash against USA on the 19th, followed by Bangladesh on the 22nd, and India on the 25th.
| Toss won by | Zimbabwe U19 |
| Home Side | (neutral) |
| Comment | For Ireland U19s M Cosgrave fielded sub and caught B Sunguro. |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J Neill | lbw | b K Eksteen | 6 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| R Hunter+ | lbw | b C Takawira | 46 | 99 | 71 | 3 | 0 |
| G Roulston | c C MacMillan | b M Schonken | 81 | 135 | 95 | 9 | 0 |
| K Hilton | lbw | b M Schonken | 56 | 64 | 53 | 5 | 1 |
| PD le Roux* | c C Takawira | b N Nyamhuri | 15 | 31 | 18 | 2 | 0 |
| SJ Macbeth | lbw | b C Takawira | 18 | 30 | 19 | 1 | 1 |
| J McNally | b C Takawira | 10 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 0 | |
| C McCullough | c M Schonken | b N Nyamhuri | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| O Riley | not out | 3 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| F Lutton | c A Kamuriwo | b K Eksteen | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| D Forkin | run out N Nyamhuri | 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b6 lb3 w10 nb0) | 19 | |||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 265 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-17(J Neill) 2-104(R Hunter) 3-192(G Roulston) 4-201(K Hilton) 5-236(PD le Roux) |
| 6-247(J McNally) 7-248(SJ Macbeth) 8-254(C McCullough) 9-260(F Lutton) |
| 10-265(D Forkin) |
| Bowler | Overs | Maid | Runs | Wkts | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Kamuriwo | 6 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 1 | - |
| K Eksteen | 7 | 1 | 37 | 2 | 3 | - |
| N Nyamhuri | 9.5 | 0 | 52 | 2 | 4 | - |
| S Dzakatira | 8 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 1 | - |
| C Takawira | 9 | 0 | 44 | 3 | 1 | - |
| M Schonken | 10 | 0 | 59 | 2 | - | - |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R Kamwemba | c G Roulston | b C McCullough | 103 | 122 | 112 | 6 | 5 |
| P Taruvinga* | run out SJ Macbeth | 40 | 108 | 61 | 5 | 0 | |
| R Patel | b F Lutton | 4 | 24 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| C MacMillan | c O Riley | b C McCullough | 28 | 57 | 48 | 4 | 1 |
| K Eksteen | c F Lutton | b O Riley | 2 | 13 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| M Schonken+ | c PD le Roux | b J Neill | 31 | 64 | 43 | 1 | 0 |
| C Takawira | c J Neill | b C McCullough | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| B Sunguro | c sub | b F Lutton | 12 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| N Nyamhuri | c&b J Neill | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| S Dzakatira | not out | 1 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| A Kamuriwo | b J Neill | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b0 lb0 w17 nb8) | 25 | |||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 248 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-152(P Taruvinga) 2-160(R Kamwemba) 3-167(R Patel) 4-183(K Eksteen) |
| 5-212(C MacMillan) 6-214(C Takawira) 7-230(B Sunguro) 8-238(N Nyamhuri) |
| 9-248(M Schonken) 10-248(A Kamuriwo) |
| Bowler | Overs | Maid | Runs | Wkts | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F Lutton | 7.5 | 0 | 44 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| O Riley | 7.1 | 1 | 39 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| J Neill | 6.2 | 0 | 42 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| C McCullough | 10 | 0 | 36 | 3 | 1 | - |
| SJ Macbeth | 10 | 1 | 38 | 0 | - | - |
| D Forkin | 8 | 1 | 49 | 0 | 1 | - |
