Mankading has always been a very controversial topic in cricket history. In the group stages of the ongoing ICC Under-19 World Cup today West Indies defeated Zimbabwe by 2 runs but the game will go down in history as a controversial one. With 3 runs to win off the last six balls and one wicket in hand, Zimbabwe were robbed by West Indies of a knockout spot by Mankading.
In the last over of the match, Kundai Matigimu was on strike, the Caribbean captain gave the ball to Keemo Paul. As Paul went to deliver the first delivery saw Richard Ngarava backing up just a touch and took the bails off. Paul didn't quite enter his delivery stride and he was within the laws of the game to do that. To be fair, Richard Ngarava wasn't even far down the pitch but according to the law of the game it's was a fair way of dismissal.
The incident was the main topic of discussion in the post-match presentation ceremony. The Zimbabwe skipper Brandon Mavuta was close to tears and refused to talk about the Mankading incident. He said, "Yeah, obviously we got so close. Yeah, I do not have anything to say now. I have no comments. I do not want, to say anything."
On the other hand, West Indian captain Shimron Hetmyer pointed out that it’s not the first time an incident of mankading happened. Talking about mankading, he said, "Cricket is a game of uncertainties. It is not a big deal for us. Yes, we are very happy. Not the first time it happened, I’ve seen it before.”
This controversial mankading incident in a junior level tournament is labeled as lack of sportsmanship by various people around the world. Many former cricketers also expressed their frustration through social networking side Twitter.
Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming tweeted:
Australian head coach Darren Lehmann tweeted:
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field first. In their scheduled 50 overs West Indies scored 226/9. Shamar Springer was their best batsman with 61 runs. In reply, Zimbabwe were all out just two runs short of the target, that too in controversial circumstances. West Indian fast-bowler Alzarri Joseph was awarded the Player of the Match trophy for his 4/30.
Brief Scores – WI U-19 226/9 (Springer 61, Imlach 31; Magarira 3/28) beat ZIM U-19 224 all out (Snyder 52, Keefe 43; Joseph 4/30)
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