Matchday 1 vs South Africa U20 - Dry - Won by 5 wickets
South Africa U20 (139-7) 20 overs, Zimbabwe U20 (140-5) 19.3 overs
A. Coleborn (45) L. Bayles (36*), W. van der Merwe (rws) 4-0-20-1 S. Langdon (lfs) 4-0-26-2
- We got off to the perfect start!
- Our bowling unit worked brilliantly to take a first over wicket, then recover thanks to our spinners, ensuring a 140 target which was about par, always felt chasable.
- We had an explosive start to the chase, although overs 9 and 10 knocked us back, needing 69 from 10 overs. Fortunately we kept the scoreboard ticking, then hit out to get over the line with 3 balls to spare.
- Our top performer Saturday Langdon led the bowling unit as the experienced touring veteran! Two wickets for two top order batsmen, helped ensure the opposition could never fully settle, critical to our success!
Matchday 2 vs Kenya U20 - Hard - Won by 11 runs
Zimbabwe U20 (182-2) 20 overs, Kenya U20 (171-6) 20 overs
T. Halstead (53*) G. Nyumbu (53), W. van der Merwe (rws) 4-0-27-2 S. Symonds (rf) 4-0-31-2
- Game 2 saw us put us out of our comfort zone, being asked to bat first.
- Despite having plenty of wickets in hand and scoring consistently every over, when the innings came to a close, I couldn’t help but worry we’d left 20 runs on the table.
- 10 overs into the chase, Kenya were ahead of us at 90-2. Fortunately, we managed to hold them for a few overs, with wickets and great fielding helping to take home our second win.
- Our top performer Temba Halstead whacked a half century at a 177 strike rate, to punish their medium pacer and drive Zimbabwe to glory!
Matchday 3 vs New Zealand U20 - Hard - Lost by 4 runs
New Zealand U20(187-2) 20 overs, Zimbabwe U20(183-3) 20 overs
D. Mapfumo (105*) B. Walaza (36), T. Chiesa (rfm) 4-0-30-1 R. Wagenaar (rf) 4-0-35-1
- I had no expectations heading into the NZ match, as I knew we’d be outranked but we performed magnificently.
- Misfields and drops in the early part of their innings, and a lack of Wickets meant NZ’s top 3 managed to post 187, that I thought would be out of reach
- But we Zimmies never back down from a fight, Batting second meant we knew there was no time to waste! Getting to the final ball and having a great fielding pop stop us from winning on the last ball was heartbreaking. The difference also being our bowling trigger was smacked for 4, there bowling trigger we only scored 1 off.
- Our top performer Darlington Mapfumo scoring an unbeaten century was unbelievable, scoring fifteen 4's and was so close to guiding the team to a special upset.
Matchday 4 vs West Indies U20 - Dry - Won by 5 wickets
West Indies U20 (130-7) 20 overs, Zimbabwe U20 (131-5) 19.2 overs
A. Maddern (29*) E. Tsvanhu (23*), B. Malusi (rfs) 4-0-18-1 S. Symonds (rf) 4-0-26-4
- A brilliant team performance put us in a strong position for potential promotion
- We opted to bowl first, and a text book perfect bowling display took an early wicket then restricted the Windies to 130-7
- In reply, although we regularly got starts then got out, we ultimately got over the line. With a redesigned lower order 5, 6, 7 combination, allowing us to ensure survival and spread fatigue heading into the final day
- Our top performer Schalk Symonds proved why he has been instrumental in the national teams fortunes, particularly over my first two tours at the helm. 4 wickets in conditions slightly disadvantaging the seamers, played a key role in victory.
Matchday 5 vs Pakistan U20 - Uneven - Lost by 62 runs
Pakistan U20 (152-3) 20 overs, Zimbabwe U20 (90-10) 19.2 overs
A. Maddern (25) E. Marimo (19), G. Pithey (lf) 4-0-16-1 R. Wagenaar (rf) 4-0-30-2
- The final game proved I have a lot to learn in the national game, but offers a great opportunity to learn.
- We won the toss and opted to bowl, which in hindsight cost us the game and promotion. We took their openers wickets quickly, but just could not dislodge their 3 and 4! It really highlights the difference of Expert to Outstanding to Spectacular, as if they had played a spinner, the match ratings gap would have been even larger!
- 30/4 after 8 overs meant the game was over before we could get going. We tried to battle on but ultimately were bowled out for 62 runs, massively short of competing
- Our top performer Rudi Wagnaar, took two wickets and was economical. The fact that Pakistan occupied the top 5 best player ratings told the whole story of Zim not being anywhere close to victory.
I wanted to sleep on things before writing anything today, as I knew the final days huge defeat was influencing my feelings towards this tour.
Ultimately, we failed to win the group or promote, but we avoided relegation and qualified for the World Cup, which just meets our minimum targets heading into the week.
We only had the match ratings advantage against Kenya, with us ranking out of the 6 teams:
Game 1. 4th
Game 2. 4th
Game 3. 5th
Game 4. 3rd
Game 5. 3rd - 800 ratings away from 5th
And so a 3rd place finish was a slight overachievement I’m encouraged by.
After 10 games in competitive charge, 3 losses were last over 50/50 coin tosses which will come and go playing FTP. Only this last game was I tactically outplayed, which gives me heart as I can learn from this.
I was due to announce a World Cup competition, but I’ll release the details on this forum tomorrow, as this write up took a lot of effort.
Jump to the Zim discord for a sneak peak: https://discord.com/channels/1195943246 ... 1381241906
Thanks for checking out Zimbabwe U20’s!
Lenox Bayles (Harare Hammers) 
Eric Marimo (The Collywobblers)
Torsten Donnan (Unusual Suspects)
Darlington Chimusasa (Staindrop Rockets)
