Hampshire rookie Scott Currie took a wicket on his belated ICC Under-19 World Cup debut as England thrashed Nigeria in what was a final purely academic group match at Kimberley's Diamond Oval.
The Poole Town raised talent had sat out the defeats by the West Indies and Australia which led to England's elimination from the tournament proper, but took 1-9 off his four overs, having Isaac Danladi caught as his solitary victim, Nigeria collapsing to 58 all out inside 28 overs.
Sam Young, a product of Mark Garaway's Millfield academy and who has represented Dorset, hit a quick fire 39 not out as England swept to an eight-wicket win.
Nigeria had qualified for the U19 World Cup after beating Namibia, Uganda, Kenya and Sierra Leone to win the Africa qualifying group.
Currie, meanwhile, will hope to keep his place for England, who face Japan in the Plate quarter-finals in Potchestroom on Monday.
Unbelievable
The way Japan got qualified for this edition of the tournament makes for an unbelievable story. They managed to turn some heads when they went on to defeat Samoa, Fiji, and Vanuatu in their first three games during the Pacific qualifiers.
Who would finally qualify for the tournament depended on the match between Japan and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Sadly, this match did not take place because 11 of PNG’s 14-men-squad were suspended “for internal disciplinary reasons and failing to adhere to strict codes of conduct”.
With just four legal players to be placed in the field, PNG had to back out from the tournament and Japan qualified just like that.
However, it was subsequently clarified by the PNG cricket board that those 11 athletes were suspended because they were caught stealing and shoplifting from multiple stores in Japan during their visit to the country for the qualifiers.
