Powered by a solid ton from 17-year-old Northern Districts age-group rep Snehith Reddy, New Zealand Under 19 became the first team to cross the 300-run mark at the U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 202 as NZ U19 beat Nepal by 64 runs in East London.
New Zealand won the toss and batted, Tom Jones and Luke Watson laying a strong platform and making the most of some erratic bowling from Nepal - which included nine runs in extras in the Powerplay overs.
Nepal fought back right after the fielding restrictions were lifted, removing the openers and Oliver Tewatiya in quick succession.
It was the spinners who did all the damage with Subash Bhandari, Tilak Bhandari and Dipesh Kandel picking up a wicket each.
But Snehith Reddy and Oscar Jackson rebuilt the innings, opening their shoulders to pick up the scoring pace. Jackson hit five sixes during his stay before he fell to Aakash Tripathi.
Gulshan Jha followed up with two quick wickets and Nepal were back in the game. However, Reddy continued churning out runs and reached his hundred in the 46th over. His attacking strokeplay helped New Zealand to 302/8.
Though the young Rhinos batted with a positive intent against an adept New Zealand bowling line-up, they lost a couple of crucial wickets up front.
A sharp catch from Zac Cumming got rid of Deepak Bohara for a duck. Tripathi followed soon after, this time Lachie Stackpole holding onto a stunner while running in under the high ball.
Skipper Dev Khanal then stabilised the innings along with Arjun Kumal. As Kumal tried to anchor and stick around, Khanal went for his shots, smashing five fours and a six during his stay.
However, the captain fell while trying to gather pace in their scoring rate, hitting one straight to mid-on to his opposite number, Jackson.
Nepal lost two more in no time, including the experienced Gulshan Jha who fell while trying to smash Cumming out of the ground.
Even as Kumal stuck around and reached a composed fifty, Nepal kept losing wickets at the other end. The opener benefitted from several dropped chances and made the most of it with 90 from 104 balls.
His dismissal in the 38th over was the final nail in the coffin for Nepal. The tailenders fought in the death overs, but New Zealand’s target proved to be too much.
After the game, Player of the Match Snehith Reddy said, “We were just looking to assess the conditions and give ourselves a chance.
"We knew if we could absorb the pressure, then we could apply it back and that was the real key."
