Zimbabwe’s U-19 Women’s cricket team took a 1-0 lead in their six-match series against Namibia following a dominant 96-run victory in the Windhoek on Monday.
The Young Lady Chevrons are using the series against Namibia to prepare for the 2025 ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup to be co-hosted by Malaysia and Thailand.
Nine players in the squad were part of the Zimbabwe A that recently won silver in the Kwibuka Women’s T20I tournament in Rwanda.
Zimbabwe’s vastly-experienced skipper Kelis Ndhlovu won the toss and elected to bat first before he opening batting partner Beloved Biza scored an entertaining innings of 62 runs from 64 balls.
Middle order batter Runyararo Pasipanodya also chipped in with 23 runs from 24 deliveries as Zimbabwe scored 131-7 in their alloted 20 overs.
In reply Namibia found the going tough against Zimbabwe’s well drilled bowling attack, capitulating to a paltry 35 runs all out in 11 overs.
Chipo Moyo was the star of the show with ball in hand as she claimed a five-wicket-haul for 17 runs.
Five batters in the Namibian lineup were dismissed without troubling the scorers while noone managed to reach double figures.
Scores in brief
Zimbabwe U-19 Women 131/7 in 20 overs
(Beloved Biza 62, Runyararo Pasipanodya 23 ; Unombuiro Kanjosa 3/15, Estelle van der Merewe 1/26)
Namibia U-19 Women 35 all out in 10.3 overs
(Unombuiro Kanjosa 6*, Mekelaye Mwatile 6, Chipo Moyo 5/17, Beloved Biza 1/0)
Zimbabwe U-19 Women won by 96 runs