Papua New Guinea Under-19s – 95 all out in 20 overs (Igo Mahuru 26, Ovia Sam 24*, Sinaka Arua 18; Wesley Madhevere 3/19, Milton Shumba 2/19)
Zimbabwe Under-19s – 98-0 in 14 overs (Wesley Madhevere 53*, Gregory Dollar 41*)
Zimbabwe Under-19s won by 10 wickets
Zimbabwe handed Papua New Guinea (PNG) a 10-wicket hiding as they got their campaign at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2018 in New Zealand off to a flying start on Saturday.
Wesley Madhevere turned in a man-of-the-match performance, first grabbing three wickets before striking an unbeaten half-century that sealed the comfortable victory for Stephen Mangongo’s charges at Lincoln.
After rain had reduced the contest to 20 overs a side, Zimbabwe captain Liam Roche opted to field first on winning the toss.
PNG enjoyed a solid start as Simon Atai and Igo Mahuru chalked up a 41-run opening stand in nine overs, but they then lost the rest of their batsmen for a combined 54 runs.
Robert Chimhinya sparked the collapse when he had Mahuru skying a catch to deep point for a run-a-ball 26, the innings’ highest score.
The spin duo of Madhevere and Milton Shumba was however responsible for much of the carnage, taking five wickets between them.
There was also a wicket each for Roche, Jonathan Connolly and Taun Harrison as PNG were skittled for 95 runs in 20 overs.
Madhevere and Gregory Dollar then shared an unbroken stand that saw Zimbabwe cantering to victory without losing a wicket and with 36 balls to spare.
Madhevere’s 53 not-out came off 44 balls and included six boundaries, while Dollar faced 40 balls for his unbeaten 41 that included five fours.
Next up for Zimbabwe in Group B is an encounter against Australia at the same venue on 17 January.
Zimbabwe will then face India at the Bay Oval in Tauranga on 19 January in a day-night match that completes their first-round fixtures at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2018 tournament.
