South Africa have been knocked out of the U19 World Cup, after losing to Namibia by two wickets in their Group A encounter on Sunday.
Lawrence Mahatlane’s side will still have playoff places to fight for, but after losing to hosts Bangladesh and then Namibia, it means the trophy will be handed over to someone else come 14 February.
Bangladesh and Namibia have won both their opening group matches so their places in the quarter-finals have been confirmed. Now the South Africans will hope to beat Scotland on Tuesday to avoid the wooden spoon.
In a match they would have expected to win, South Africa, who made three changes to their side to face Namibia at Cox’s Bazar, were always behind in the game thanks to a poor display with the bat.
They won the toss, but lost both openers inside the first three overs. Fritz Coetzee was impressive with the new ball, while Michael van Lingen, schooled at Paarl Boys’ High, ripped apart the middle order to leave the South Africans reeling on 37-6.
Tony de Zorzi (18), Willem Ludick (42) and Lutho Sipamla (17) put up a bit of a fight with some crucial partnerships towards the end to give themselves something to work with, but defending 136-9 was always going to be a tall order.
Namibia got off to an equally poor start. Dayaan Galiem and Ziyaad Abrahams were menacing with the new ball to leave their opponents on 10-2, and regular wickets from there, thanks to spinner Sean Whitehead, gave SA a chance.
It was only going to take one big partnership to see Namibia over the line, however, and they found that from Lohan Louwrens and Charl Brits, who put together 52 runs.
A couple of quick wickets fell at the end, but there simply wasn’t enough runs to defend, as Louwrens stuck around to bring up his fifty, and guide his side over the line.
Picture: CSA
