New Zealand rout Kenya in U19 World Cup

What you need to know:

  • The junior Kiwis set a target of 437 for the loss of four wickets in their allotted 50 overs. Jacob Bhula knocked a scintillating century, 180 that came off 144 deliveries with 10 boundaries and five sixes.
  • He top scored for his team and was named player of the match.

Kenya’s Under-19 cricket team was on Wednesday routed by hosts New Zealand by a whopping 243 runs in the ICC Under-19 World Cup at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.

Put in to bat first, the junior Kiwis set a target of 437 for the loss of four wickets in their allotted 50 overs. Jacob Bhula knocked a scintillating century, 180 that came off 144 deliveries with 10 boundaries and five sixes. He top scored for his team and was named player of the match.

New Zealand’s opening pair of Bhula and Rachin Ravindra, who also scored a century, 117 that came off 101 balls with eight boundaries and three sixes, gave their team a flying start with an opening partnership of 245. The stand was broken when Ravindra was stumped by the wicket-keeper, Ankit Hirani of the bowling of Sukhdeep Singh (1/29).

Bhula also put in a second wicket stand of 156 with Finn Allen (90 off 40 balls with eight boundaries and six sixes). The partnership was broken when Jasraj Kundi (1/82) had Allen caught by Aveet Desai.

Dale Philips with unbeaten 26 that came off 12 balls with four boundaries and skipper Kaylum Boshie who was adjudged run out by Kundi for a golden duck were the other batsmen who did duty for New Zealand. Jasraj and Sukhdeep were Kenya’s wicket takers. The other two wickets came through run outs.

In reply, Kenya scored 193 runs with six wickets in hand by the time they completed their 50 overs.

Opening batsman Aman Gandhi knocked half a century, 63 that came off 105 balls with six boundaries.

Thomas Ochieng (39 not out off 47 balls with a boundary) and team captain, Sachin Budhia (21 off 24 balls with three boundaries) shared unbeaten fifth wicket stand of 66, the best for the side.

Aveet (28 off 69 balls) with three boundaries was the other batsman who posted meaningful runs on the scoreboard. New Zealand’s wicket takers were Ravindra (2/33), Luke Georgeson (1/38) and Sandeep Patel (1/13).

Commenting on the performance of his charges, team coach Jimmy Kamande said: “I am very impressed with the fighting spirit of the boys. They are fighting hard and are not throwing away their wickets cheaply.”

“Our spirit cannot be dampened by losing, what matters to us is what we learn from the game and the tournament as a whole.”