UNB, Chittagong :
England emerged Group-C champions in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup with an all-win record after an emphatic 129-run victory over Zimbabwe at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Sunday.
Jack Burnham’s unbeaten century of 106 off 104 balls involving five boundaries and six over boundaries helped England to seal the victory against Zimbabwe in their last group match. Later, Burnham was adjudged man of the match.
England started the 11th edition world youth cricket tournament crushing inexperienced Fiji by 299 runs and confirmed their quarterfinal berth beating West Indies by 61 runs in the 2nd match. England secured six points from three matches to take the top slot.
In the day’s match, replying to a moderate score of 288, Zimbabwe finished the innings at 159 for all in 43.4 overs.
Number 4 Jeremy Ives scored the highest 91 off 132 balls featuring 12 boundaries before being bowled out by Saqib Mahmood at teams’ final score.
Skipper Brandon Mavuta (14 off 23b; 1×4), Shaun Snyder (11 off 26b; 2×4) and William Mashinge (10 off 20b; 1×4) were the other double digit scorers for Zimbabwe. S Mahmood grabbed four wickets for 39 runs in 9.4 overs while Callum Taylor bagged three wickets for economic 14 runs in four overs. Ben Green, Sam Curran and Mason Crane took one wicket each for 13, 22 and 23 runs.
Batting first after winning the toss, England scored 288 for 4 in 50 overs with number-3 batsman Burnham’s century.
England made an impressive start as their opening pair Dand Lawrence and Max Holden raised the tally to 91 in 19.1 overs before Lawrence was caught by Wesley Madhevere off Rugare Magarira.
Lawrence was out for 59 off 67 balls with seven boundaries and one six while Holden scored 51 off 90 balls with four boundaries.
Sam Curran scored not out 32 and Aneurin Donald added 25 runs.
Rugare Magarira bagged two wickets for 36 runs in 10 overs while William Mashinge and Wesley Madhevere took one wicket each.
