Australia has recorded a dominant 10 wicket victory over Nigeria in Kimberley, South Africa, to keep its hopes of reaching the Super League stage of the 2020 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup alive.
After losing the toss and being put into the field, Australia made early inroads into Nigeria’s top order via wickets to each of Bradley Simpson (3-11) and Liam Marshall (1-17) in their respective opening overs.
Two quickly became three as Simpson struck again, before the introduction of in-form leg spinner Tanveer Sangha tore the middle order apart.
Sangha backed up his 4-30 against the West Indies with a brilliant spell of 5-14 from 10 overs here, demonstrating his full array of skills at the Country Club B Field.
The miserly Liam Scott (0-6 from six overs) proved the perfect foil for Sangha, before off-spinner Todd Murphy (1-13) joined the party to skittle Nigeria for 61.
In reply, Sam Fanning and opening game top-scorer Jake Fraser-McGurk were untroubled, chasing down the target without losing a wicket in just 7.4 overs.
Fanning made the most of his inclusion after missing the XI that went down to the West Indies, cruising to 30 from 26 deliveries, while Fraser-McGurk was stylish again in his 23 from 20 balls.
The result lifts Australia to second in Group B behind the West Indies, who remain undefeated after defeating England by 71 runs (DLS method) overnight.
Australia plays England in what shapes as a defining showdown in the race to the Super League quarter finals on Thursday at 7:00pm AEDT. The match will be shown on FOX Sports 506 and streamed on Kayo Sports.
