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Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket team got off to a winning start when they beat hosts Omtex ICWC Cricket Institute Women’s Under-19 team by nine runs in a practice match played at the Omtex ICWC ground in Mumbai, India, today.

The Zimbabwe women’s side were sent in to bat first after losing the toss and they struggled to make the board tick as they could only manage 88/9 in their 20 overs.

However, the bowlers hit back for Zimbabwe when they restricted their opponents to 79 runs for the loss of nine wickets in their allotted overs.

All-rounder Kelis Ndhlovu was voted player of the match for her incredible bowling spell which yielded four wickets for just nine runs. She had earlier on contributed 13 runs with the bat.

Zimbabwe’s 15-year-old sensation Danielle Miekle was also in top form after taking two wickets for nine runs and was the team’s top scorer as she was unbeaten on 14 runs, down the batting order.

The team is in India for a three-week training camp as part of their preparations for the inaugural ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in South Africa next month.

Summary scorecard:
Zimbabwe Under 19 Women won by 9 runs.
Zimbabwe Under-19 Women 88-9 in 20 overs (Danielle Miekle 14*, Kelis Ndhlovu 13; Vidal Raut 3-3, Neelakshi Talati 2-5)
OMTEX ICWC Under-19 Women 79-9 after 20 overs (Swami 9, Talati 8*; Kelis Ndhlovu 4-9, Danielle Miekle 2-9)