U19s seek to continue streak

Australia's U19 World Cup campaign has been rocky but they are now red-hot favourites to reach the semi-final stage, carrying a perfect record against tomorrow's quarter-final opposition West Indies into the match.

Both the sides come into the knock-out stage having lost a group match; Australia were upset by Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi by 36 runs while the West Indies lost to South Africa on the opening day of the tournament by 94 runs.

However, Australia dominates the West Indies in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup having won all its past six matches. It won by 73 runs in 1988, 71 runs in 1998, four wickets in 2000, 42 runs (in the league match) and 93 runs (in the semi-final) in 2002 and 13 runs in 2006.

In the three group matches, Australia’s Jake Doran and Matthew Short have been the in-form batsmen, having so far scored 164 and 137 runs, respectively. Fast bowler James Bazley with six wickets has been the most successful Australia bowler, though Ben Ashkenazi showed glimpses of his brilliance when he narrowly missed a hat-trick in the must-win match against Bangladesh.

For the West Indies, Tagenarine Chanderpaul with 177 runs is the lead run-getter from his side. Nicolas Pooran with 106 runs is the other West Indies batsman to reach three figures. Jay Jordan with seven wickets has so far enjoyed a good run with the ball, while Jerome Jones and captain Ramaal Lewis have claimed five wickets apiece.

Australia captain Alex Gregory said his side was ready for the challenge the West Indies would pose.

“We’ll look to maintain our discipline with the bat and ball, particularly winning the middle overs, and at this stage we’re taking every game as it comes," said Gregory.

“We started off well against Namibia with a strong win and hit a speed bump against Afghanistan, but I thought we held together well as a team to handle the pressure and record a good win against Bangladesh to get us through to the quarter finals.”

West Indies captain Lewis admitted his side will have to be at the top of their game to overcome Australia.

“Australia was the runner-up last year and it has been doing well in youth cricket over a period of time now. We will have to do our best to win against them.

“You can’t take anything for granted now, every team is tough so you have to go to try and win each game,” said Lewis.

If Australia progress to the semi-final stage, they will face the winner of Sunday's other match between South Africa and Afghanistan.

The senior Afghan squad will feature in next month’s ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh and have also made history by qualifying for the ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next summer. These facts will provide impetus to the young guns which defeated Australia last week and then blazed to victory against Namibia by four wickets, reaching their 192-run target inside 26 overs, with 130 runs coming off boundaries, to advance in place of Bangladesh on net run rate.

With nothing to lose, the Afghan lads are likely to play their natural game but South Africa will provide formidable opposition.

In Yaseen Valli, South Africa has a batsman who has impressed everyone with his patience, shot selection and range of strokes. He has so far scored 208 runs with a century and two half-centuries. Captain Aiden Markram struck form at the right time when he scored 120 not out against Zimbabwe in the final league match.

In the bowling department, fast bowler Justin Dill has shown a lot of promise and fire, and has taken six wickets so far, while Yalli has complemented his 208 runs with six wickets. Left-arm fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been impressive though he has managed only five wickets to date.

Markram, looking ahead to the match against Afghanistan, said: “None of the games so far have been easy but I would say the match against the West Indies was the toughest as they bowled really well and took us by surprise.

“The tournament is open and any team can progress. It’s about which team performs on the day.

“The quest for the elusive world title doesn’t put us under any pressure, in fact, it motivates us a little bit more to try and achieve it. We’re all trying to learn from this experience and I think if we play to our standards, the results will take care of themselves.”

Afghanistan captain Nasir Jamal hoped his team would carry the momentum in the forthcoming matches. “We were thrilled to beat Australia as the conditions in the UAE favoured our side and then we also had better spinners.

“South Africa is a good side and has not lost a match. We will go into our quarter-final against it with the same mindset that we had against Australia, and if we maintain the same momentum and play with controlled aggression, then we are hopeful of reaching the semi-finals.”