Under-19 cricket side roar into contention

Their win was the second in a row after the junior side had suffered early defeats to Namibia and Nigeria.

Zambia won the toss and elected to bat, managing to score 163 in 48.5 overs. Botswana managed to surpass the total with three wickets in hand and 4.4 overs to spare.

Openers, Siddarth Rangaswamy and Varun Vijayakumar made a solid start scoring 63 runs between them. Vijayakumar, who was a top scorer in the game against Uganda was again the leading run maker with a score of 33.

Rangaswamy recovered from the run-out against Uganda to make 30 against Zambia.

Siddhart Ananthakrishnan was the pick of the bowlers with a figure of 4-36 in 10 overs.

Against Uganda, Botswana won the toss and elected to bat. It was the best decision as Botswana posted a competitive 212, which proved to be enough in the end because Uganda could only manage 115 all out. Botswana got off to a disastrous start when opening batsman, Rangaswamy was run out for three, but his partner, Vijayakumar steadied the ship with a top score of 87.

Vijayakumar's knock from 101 balls included nine fours and a six. Karabo Motlhanka struggled with the bat as he was dismissed for a duck when he was run-out.

Manan Barot made a slow 16 from 47 balls before his stumps were sent flying off the bowling of Senyando. Waseem Tijbhay weighed in with more than a run-a-ball half century while all rounder, Ajanthan Sridharan contributed 28.

Other batsmen were dismal failing to reach double digits.

Uganda were never in the run chase as they started horribly and slumped to 63-8 in the 26th over. The Ugandans were eventually all out for 115 after 31 overs. Sridharan was the pick of the bowlers with impressive figures of 6 for 38 in 10 overs. Vijayakumar and Sridharan were voted joint men of the match.

The Botswana technical team will, however be worried with the 28 extras the team gave away as they headed into their match against Zambia yesterday. The Botswana side was involved in a pulsating match against Nigeria on Monday, narrowly losing by two wickets with only four balls to spare. The team had opened the tournament with a disappointing 27 run loss to hosts Namibia on Sunday.

Botswana will hope its batsmen come to the party in the remaining matches on what, judging by the scores, should be a placid pitch. Namibia and Kenya have emerged as favourites to qualify for the World Cup as they are unbeaten in three matches.

Run out: Siddaharth Rangaswamy was run-out for three against Uganda on Tuesday before redeeming himself by scoring 30 runs against Zambia yesterday. FILE PIC