Namibia overcame a determined Uganda by three wickets to win the final of the ICC Africa/EAP U-19 World Cup qualifiers played at on the main ground at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. Both teams had already qualified for next year's tournament in Sri Lanks.
Uganda won the toss, but their batsmen were put under immediate pressure by the Namibian bowlers. Henno Prinsloo bowled with pace and bounce and Marc Olivier claimed early wickets to finish with 3 for 27 from his 10 overs. Ronald Semanda (29 off 55 balls) was the only Ugandan to offer much resistance and when Prinsloo (3 for 16 off 8.3) was reintroduced the Ugandan innings subsided for 139.
Namibia started nervously and the Ugandans, whose fielding has been outstanding throughout the tournament, applied the pressure. Player of the Tournament LP Van der Westhuizen was picked up cheaply, but ST Ackermann (38) and Dawid Botha (28) set up the victory. As the winning runs were hit in the 44th over, the Namibians were jubilant while the Ugandans were left to rue their first loss of the tournament.
The third and fourth-place play-off was a nailbiter as Kenya avenged their defeat on Wednesday to see off Papua New Guinea. Kenya batted first and was bowled out for 232 in the 49th over, the innings highlighted by a 110-run third-wicket partnership between Hafiz Manji (97) and Ashish Karia (71). Opening bowler Jack Ebani was the pick of the PNG attack with 4 for 27 off his 10 overs. PNG kept up with the run rate for the most part of their chase, but fell short by four runs after Kila Pala (42 off 22 balls) was caught in the deep in the 49th over. Emmanual Karo (69) was also impressive opening the batting and setting the foundation.
The much improved Tanzania made light work of Zambia to claim fifth place, bowling them out for 136 and easing to a five-wicket win. Safraz Patel top scored for Zambia with 40 while Benson Mwita continued his fine form, taking 3 for 22 with the new ball. In reply, Tanzania was always in control, Shahid Dhanani anchoring the innings with a patient 50 off 118 balls.
Fiji blew away Nigeria for 42 in 19.5 overs to secure seventh. Jone Wasele was the chief destroyer claiming 4 for 16 off 6.5 overs. Fiji took less than 11 overs to wrap up an eight-wicket win.