South Africa beat Scotland by 10 wickets to finish the group stages of the U19 World Cup in Bangladesh on a positive note.
It’s a classic case of too little too late as they were already bundled out of the tournament’s play-offs after losing their first two matches against Bangladesh and Namibia respectively.
The result means South Africa finish third in their group where they will now enter the Plate Championship portion of the tournament.
Tony de Zorzi’s men were set the target of 128 for victory and easily reached it in exactly 29 overs without losing a wicket. Liam Smith (64) and Kyle Verreynne (64) safely negotiated the innings, but it makes for little comfort considering the defence of the title they won two years ago ended so quickly.
Remarkably, both batsmen faced 87 deliveries and hot seven fours, although Smith added two sixes as well.
South Africa had earlier bowled out Scotland for a meagre 127. They had them in trouble on 33-4 as the bowling attack combined well to put Scotland under pressure. Only Finlay McCreath (24) and Harris Carnegie (29) managed to score more than 20 runs.
Dayyaan Galiem (2-16) and Sean Whitehead (2-16) were the pick of the bowlers while Wiaan Mulder (2-16) and De Zorzi himself (2-20) also got in on the act.
