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Zimbabwe's U19 side were on the wrong end of a 10-wicket thumping in Kuala Lumpur this morning, as Australia rolled them over in emphatic style and gave a pointer to the struggles the side will face when the tournament proper gets under way next week. Batting first, Zim were bowled out for 57 (16 of those came from Extras), with Tendai Mashonganyika (12) and captain Prince Masvaure (10) the only players to hit double figures. Hazelwood (3/17) and King (3/6) led the attack for Australia.

In reply, Australia hardly broken a sweat, with openers Hughes (40*) and Sarna (12*) running up the required runs in just 7.2 overs, with Zim's bowling being treated with contempt throughout.
Zimbabwe U19 57 (28.3 overs; Mashonganyika 12, King 3/6), Australia U19 60/0 (7.2 overs; Hughes 40*, Sarna 12*). Australia U19 win by 10 wickets.

Full scorecard below the cut. Zimbabwe's next match is against Nepal on Thurdsday, and will be a good gauge of how much Zim are going to struggle in this tourney - if Nepal can trouble them, then we're in trouble...

The two sides may not be scheduled to meet again until 2011, but new Australian PM Kevin Rudd is already being asked about his stance on tours to the country by the Zimbabwe cricket team. Rudd has served as an election monitor in Zimbabwe & is therefore aware of what the situation on the ground is like, but he's taking a more measured approach than his predecessor John Howard, and will consult on the issue prior to any tour:

"I understand the interests of the game, I understand the importance of sport and international relations, so I'd sit down with those people [Cricket Australia] first. I'd rather take this in a measured way."

At least he's got a few years to make up his mind...
Cricket365 - Rudd to Consult CA Over Zimbabwe

Well, knock me down with a feather. In 1983, at their first World Cup outing, then-Associate side Zimbabwe pulled off one of the great cricketing upsets by beating Australia in their first one-day meeting. Today, lowly Zimbabwe - who most other nations probably feel should be back in the Associate ranks - did it again by beating Australia in their first Twenty20 meeting, and in doing so have left Group B wide open.

Australia, who haven't played an international match in almost 5 months, were decidedly out-of-sorts, and with Zimbabwe on something of a high after their recent series against South Africa (notable as they weren't completely hammered) they took full advantage of some rusty play by the Aussies and conditions that perfectly suited Zimbabwe's style of play. Superb performances in the field kept the Aussies pegged back to 138/9 from their 20 overs, with the top 3 Aus batsmen all failing to reach double figures.

Come the reply, and nerves were jangling - Zimbabwe were clearly in with a chance, but their batsmen have failed to fire on so many occasions and the mighty Australians weren't about to give them an easy time - were they? But Vusi Sibanda set the tone for Zim's innings by smashing 23 off 15 balls before being caught by Gilchrist off Bracken. Some mid-order wobbles after Chamu Chibhabha's dismissal, and a rain break that threatened to bring Duckworth-Lewis into play, complicated things a bit, but Brendan Taylor anchored the side well and, reminiscent of his heroics against Bangladesh in 2006 (remember the winning last-ball six?) saw the side home to a stunning victory with one ball to spare.

That leaves group B very delicately poised. A win against England tomorrow will see Zimbabwe through to the second group stage; if they lose, then England must beat Australia to ensure Zim's place, else net run rate comes into play. Tomorrow's game is going to be a must-see match. Before the tournament, Zim coach Robin Brown had pointed out that Twenty20 was a great leveller:

“In cricket, the fewer overs there are, the more equal the teams become. That is how exciting Twenty20 is. It comes down to the team that’s firing on the day.”

Today, Zimbabwe were the team that were firing, and they received their just rewards.

Quote of the day (from a variety of sources, including Sky Sports commentary and CricInfo): "A newcomer to Newlands might be thinking that [Zimbabwe] were the world champions and the side in the skin-tight yellow and grey lycra were the no-hopers."

Watch the Action: There's an extensive collection of video clips from the match available at the World Twenty20 website. There's also post-match reaction from Ricky Ponting and Hamilton Masakadza at Sky Sports.

Scorecard below the cut.
Australia 138/9 (20/20 overs; Hodge 35*, Chigumbura 3/20), Zimbabwe 139/5 (Taylor 60*, Clark 2/22). Zimbabwe win by 5 wickets, currently lead Group B.

The Australian government has ordered Cricket Australia to cancel their tour of Zimbabwe, scheduled for later this year, pointing out that they have the power to prevent members of the Australian team from travelling should CA have decided to go ahead. As the cancellation is the result of government action, CA will not face an ICC fine. Announcing the decision, Australian PM John Howard said:

"The government through the foreign minister has written to Cricket Australia instructing that the tour not go ahead. We don't do this lightly. Whilst it pains me both as a cricket lover and as somebody who genuinely believes these things should be left to sporting organisations... it leaves me with no alternative."

Have to disagree with you there, John - it's not the job of sporting organisations to implement your political decisions for you. CA, to their credit, are looking at ways to allow the matches to take place outside Zimbabwe, according to CA chief James Sutherland:

"We are obliged to do what we can to help Zimbabwe cricketers and we could help them by playing somewhere else. We are discussing with the government where we could play Zimbabwe at a neutral venue."

That neutral venue would most likely be South Africa, ahead of the Twenty20 World Championships.
BBC Sport - Aussies pull out of Zimbabwe tour

UPDATE: ZC have ruled out playing the series at a neutral venue - their stance is either that it should be played in Zimbabwe, or not at all. Given the Australian government's stance on the matter, no prizes for guessing what that means...
CricInfo - Zimbabwe rule out neutral venue

I haven't been covering Australia's angst over touring Zimbabwe, as it's all very predictable - especially if you followed England's to'ing and fro'ing ahead of their visit a few years ago. The basic situation is this: the Australian government doesn't want the tour to go ahead; the ICC have reminded Cricket Australia that they'll face a US$2m fine if they don't tour; the Australian Government has offered to pay any fine on Cricket Australia's behalf; but CA have said that, barring security issues, the tour will go ahead.

On the sidelines, former Zim player Henry Olonga has called for the tour to be scrapped; Vusi Sibanda wants it to go ahead; and former Zim coach Geoff Marsh has rightly pointed out that any boycott's unlikely to make any difference to the situation in Zim. The saga rumbles on.

UPDATE: The Zimbabwe Independent sums up my own feelings on this perfectly:

Whatever propaganda Mugabe will spin should Ricky Ponting and his men come, the world already knows the truth and the lies will only be as good as that — lies. We hope Australia will make a sporting decision instead of a political one. Zimbabwe’s young and inexperienced cricketers need Australia more than Mugabe does. The young players have a future and Mugabe doesn’t have.

Zimbabwe Independent - Ask the Pommies, Mugabe cares not

Kenya met England in the final match in Group C - with England's form having been at best erratic of late, Kenya may have been harbouring hopes of reaching the second round for the second World Cup in a row, but sadly it wasn't to be. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Kenya found themselves on the receiving end of a determined English bowling display, and were bowled out for just 177. In reply, England wobbled early on with the loss of Michael Vaughan for just 1 run, but former Irish international Ed Joyce (75) and former South African Kevin Pietersen (56*) saw the English home with 17 overs to spare. Read that sentence again and see if you can spot the irony.

Australia v South Africa was billed as the group stage clash of the titans, but didn't quite live up to its billing. Aware of South Africa's run-chasing capability, Australia took the early fight to the Proteas and smashed their way to 377/6 from their 50 overs, showing particular contempt from the bowling of Shaun Pollock, who went for 83 runs from his 10 overs. In reply, Smith and de Villiers got off to a rapid start, but once de Villiers was run out by a superb direct hit by Shane Watson, thrown all the way from the boundary, the wheels came off the South African innings as Jacques Kallis was unable to score at the required rate, and most of the rest of the batsmen were unable to score at all. The Proteas were bowled out in the 48th over, 83 runs short of the target.
England beat Kenya by 7 wickets
Australia beat South Africa by 83 runs

Zimbabwe have been placed alongside England and Australia for the Twenty20 World Championship, to take place in South Africa in September. Four groups of three will take part, with the top two from each group progressing to a Super Eight stage. The full draw is:
Group A: South Africa, West Indies, Bangladesh
Group B: Australia, England, Zimbabwe
Group D: Pakistan, India, Scotland
Group C: New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Kenya

Full match schedules have yet to be announced.

Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer has called on Cricket Australia to cancel their tour to Zimbabwe, currently scheduled for September, in light of the current crackdown on political dissent. Speaking to the ABC and reported by CricInfo, Downer said:

"I've not been a great fan of cricket tours to Zimbabwe. [...] Once the World Cup is over, we'll talk to the Australian Cricket Board about this."

CA are still planning on the tour going ahead, according to spokesman Peter Young:

"We're just not thinking about it, it's not on our current agenda and not on our radar as such."

The tour is still subject to a security assessment.
CricInfo - Government wants Australia to reconsider Zimbabwe tour

No upsets today as the minnows stayed firmly in their places, but England did nothing to mark themselves as possible contenders after failing to convincingly see off Canada.

After being in the limelight for all the wrong reasons after Freddie Flintoff's drunken antics, England took to the field without the former vice-captain (dropped for disciplinary reasons), while Canada seemed determined not to be trampled underfoot. Compared to the scores other sides have run up against the weaker Associates, England's 279/6 didn't seem overly impressive, and Canada then went on to put up a fight with the bat - not enough to secure them the win, but enough to make sure they went out of the match without having disgraced themselves, and having raised a number of question marks over England's current form

No such luck for the hapless Dutch, however. Australia continued where South Africa left off, on their way to what was briefly a World Cup record winning margin of 229 runs. Australia's 358 was always out of reach of the Netherlands batsmen, and while they'd at least managed to bat out their overs against the Proteas, there was no such consolation here, thanks mainly to Hogg's 4/27.
Australia beat Netherlands by 229 runs
England beat Canada by 51 runs

Next up: India v Bermuda, and West Indies v Zimbabwe.

Groups A and C got underway yesterday, with Australia meeting Scotland and Kenya facing Canada. There was no fairytale for the Scots, sadly as the Aussies ran up 334/6 from their alotted overs, with Ricky Ponting picking up 113 as the Scottish bowlers proved unable to get to grips with some aggressive Aussie batting. Come their own turn with the bat, the Saltires again looked somewhat out of their depth - only Colin Smith, with 51 runs to his name, put up any real fight as McGrath and Tait scythed through the batting order. The 203-run winning margin will probably have the anti-Associate mob baying again.

Better luck for Kenya, though, in their Group C opener against Canada. The two sides have met several times this year already - the record before this match was 3-1 to Kenya, and yesterday's outing stuck to the form book as Kenya eased themselves to another win. Canada were bowled out for a respectable 199 in the first innings, with a series of comedic run-outs in the final overs somewhat spoiling their effort. Geoff Barnett top-scored with 41, while Jimmy Kamande (2/25) and Steve Tikolo (2/34) did the work for Kenya with the ball. Tikolo again showed his class with the bat, unbeated on 72 after Kenya rattled off the required total inside 44 overs & for the loss of just 3 wickets. What odds on Kenya carrying the Associate banner to the Super 8, I wonder?
Australia beat Scotland by 203 runs
Kenya beat Canada by 7 wickets

Thursday's matches: Sri Lanka v Bermuda in Group B, and the important one (for me, anyway), Ireland v Zimbabwe in Group D.