Rain in Bulawayo allowed just ten overs of action between Bangladesh and New Zealand .

The match began an hour later than scheduled, and as a 47-over contest after Bangladesh opted to bowl. Iqbal Hossain Emon cleaned Hugo Bogue up for 8 in the second over, but just as Aryan Mann and Tom Jones steadied New Zealand, rain returned, only for no play to be possible after that.

It was New Zealand’s second washed-out game in a row, and they will hope to beat India in their final group game so that they don’t have to depend on the result of the Bangladesh-USA match to progress to the Super Sixes.

No result: New Zealand 51 for 1 vs Bangladesh

The first over of the 202 chase set the tone for what followed as Australia cruised past  Japan  at the Under19 World Cup in Windhoek. Will Malajczuk  smashed Nikhil Pol for 14 runs, and never looked back, racing to a 23-ball fifty and a 51-ball hundred as Australia chased down the target  with eight wickets and nearly 20 overs to spare to seal a Super Sixes berth.

By the time Japan finally got rid of Malajczuk, he had thumped 102 off 55 balls, with 12 fours and five sixes. He brought up his half-century midway through the sixth over, by which point Australia were already 66 for 0, with Malajczuk contributing 57 of those runs off 26 balls. At the other end, his opening partner Nitesh Samuel  scored 7 from ten deliveries.

The pair added 135 for the first wicket, with Malajczuk doing the bulk of the damage as Samuel settled into a calmer role. While Malajczuk fell shortly after reaching his hundred, Samuel carried on to bring up his fifty off 62 balls in the 25th over and finished unbeaten on 60. He had scored an unbeaten 77 against Ireland in Australia’s opening game of the tournament.

Earlier, Japan were content to take their time after opting to bat. HUGO Tani Kelly  was once again their standout, following up his 101 not out against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 79. Japan, however, slipped from a position of stability to lose four wickets for 13 runs in a middle-order collapse, during which legspinner Naden Cooray struck three times.

Tani-Kelly added 72 for the seventh wicket with Montgomery Hara-Hinze before Japan eventually finished on 201, although 30 extras from Australia played its part. The target hardly bothered Australia, whose win makes both teams’ next group game a dead rubber.

Brief scores:

Australia Under 19s  204 for 2 in 29.1 overs (Will Malajczuk 102, Nitesh Samuel 60*; Nihar Parmar 1-35) beat Japan Under 19s  201 for 8 in 50 overs (Hugo Tani-Kelly 79*; Naden Cooray 3-31, Will Byrom 2-32) by eight wickets

(Cricinfo)

There is officially a traffic jam in the WPL points tale.  A day after RCB qualified for the playoffs, Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Jemimah Rodrigues  led her team over the line in a tense and hard-fought chase to extend Mumbai Indians’ (MI) losing streak to three games in a row. That means all four teams apart from  RCB now have four points each after DC lifted themselves off the bottom to push Gujarat Giants down to fifth.

Chasing 155 on a slow Vadodara track, DC saw Rodrigues walk out needing 71 off 58 balls. The MI bowlers then dried up the boundaries by taking the pace off on a pitch keeping a little low as well and forced Rodrigues and Laura Wolvaardt to mostly trade in singles and doubles. Rodrigues, however, kept finding the boundaries – square and behind square – to bring the equation down to a more comfortable 27 from 18. She placed the ball in the gaps for three more boundaries before Marizanne Kapp  smoked a six to seal victory with an over to spare.

MI were earlier restricted after another slow powerplay with the bat. Once the openers failed again, Nat Sciver Brunt did the heavy lifting once more with an unbeaten 65 after Harmanpreet Kaur fell for 41, as Shree Charani’s 3 for 33 dented MI while they looked to press the pedal. But the total wasn’t enough as almost all DC batters got going and Rodrigues scored her maiden fifty of the season and as WPL captain.