England raced to a confident eight-wicket win in their ICC Under-19 World Cup opener against Namibia.
Middlesex leg-spinner Luke Hollman took three wickets as Namibia posted 196/9 from their 50 overs before skipper Harry Brook (59*) and vice-captain Will Jacks (73*) put on 130 in a hurry to seal the victory for their side inside 25 overs.
The day started well for Namibia when skipper Lohan Louwrens correctly called tails and asked England to field first.
Along with opening partner Jurgen Linde, Louwrens started confidently and the pair almost made it through the first 10 overs, putting on 42 before Hampshire’s Tom Scriven broke the partnership, Linde clipping him to deep square-leg where Hollman held on.
England’s new-ball bowlers – Dillon Pennington and Ethan Bamber – had been unable to make a breakthrough prior to Scriven’s introduction but Pennington did play a part in England’s second, taking a catch at short fine-leg to give Surrey off-spinner Will Jacks his first wicket.
Scriven, Jacks and Hollman were limiting Namibia’s scoring opportunities and reducing the run-rate, and it was no surprise when a third wicket fell – Eben van Wyk excellently caught by Tom Banton at short cover to leave the score at 70/3.
With the pace off England were racing through their overs and while Namibia were comfortable enough, they weren’t able to accelerate as perhaps they would have liked to, especially on a flat track.
