ICC U-19 World Cup: South Africa and West Indies win warm-up games

Defending champions South Africa and West Indies rode on centuries from their respective captains to comfortably win their warm-up matches here on Friday ahead of the Under-19 cricket World Cup which is due to start on January 27.

South Africa skipper Tony de Zorzi stayed unbeaten on 100 off 91 balls with seven fours as his team crushed Fiji by 282 runs to give the first-timers a taste of what awaits them in the main tournament.

Opener Kyle Verreynne made 59 and Rivaldo Moonsamy smashed 56 as the South Africans piled up 332/7 in 50 overs after electing to bat.

Fiji were shot out for 50 runs in 30.4 overs as none of their batsmen managed to reach double figures. Left-arm spinner Sean Whitehead was the pick of the South African bowlers with five wickets for six runs in his seven overs. Seamer Luke Philander took 3/16.

West Indies win comfortably against Scotland

On the other hand, the West Indies brushed aside Scotland by 148 runs in another match here, following centuries by captain Shimron Hetmyer and opener Tevin Imlach.

Left-handed Hetmyer made 136 off 116 balls with 16 boundaries and two sixes, and Imlach retired after scoring 100 from 115 balls with 12 fours, as the West Indies totalled 342/4 after electing to bat.

The 11th edition of the biennial 16-nation tournament features nine Test-playing nations and seven Associate and Affiliate Members - Afghanistan, Canada, Fiji, Namibia, Nepal, Ireland and Scotland.

Teams have been divided into four groups with the top two in each advancing to the super league quarter-finals and the other two qualifying for the plate championships.