Bayanda Majola’s four-wicket haul was not enough for South Africa U19 as they suffered a five-wicket defeat against Bangladesh U19 in their last round-robin match of the Youth ODI Tri-Series in Harare.

The seamer claimed 4-29 in 10 overs, with his strikes initially leaving Bangladesh in heaps of trouble chasing 148, before they recovered to chase down the target with a little over 20 overs to spare.

Earlier, it was Majola’s fast-bowling compatriot Bandile Mbatha who had to bail out his side with a top score of 39 – helping them recover from 45-5 to reach 147 all out in 37.2 overs.

Paul James struck 33 but the rest of the line-up faltered with Sanjid Mozumder bagging 4-39.

But after slipping into deep trouble at 68-5 early in the chase on account of Majola’s magic, Samiun Basir (52* off 36 balls; six fours, three sixes) hit an unbeaten half-century to lead the recovery and steer his side home.

The result meant Bangladesh have now beaten the South Africans two out of three times in the competition to date, though the two are scheduled for one more showdown in the final on Sunday.

And Malibongwe Maketa’s side will be determined to end well, particularly with the bat, against the junior Tigers.

Adnaan Lagadien did the best among the recognised batsmen with 16, while Jorich van Schalkwyk (five), captain Jason Rowles (four), Kamogelo Phiri (one) and Daniel Bosman (eight) were all dismissed for single figures.

Vihan Pretorius (18) helped James take the score from 45-5 to 82-5, before the latter and Mbatha added 34 for the seventh wicket. Samiun Basir (2-23) then helped clean up the tail and SA were all out with 12.4 overs remaining.

Majola and James (1-23) ran riot early on to put their side on top by the 18th over.

However, Basir’s dashing half-century, together with MD Abdullah’s unbeaten 20 carried their side to victory through an unbroken 80-run stand.

Photo: Zimbabwe Cricket