I don’t know about you, but I’m still reeling from and revelling in Bangladesh’s dramatic win against a Ranji-player studded and IPL-contract heavy India team who’d hitherto swept all before in Sunday’s Under 19 World Cup final. The legacy of superstars, international and domestic pros that the U19 World Cup has produced over the years needs no reiteration, so let’s concentrate on this tournament we’ve just seen unfold before us in upcountry South Africa.
This is a Team of the Tournament piece, but with a twist. I’ve set myself the challenge of picking an XI with only one player from each nation - partly to get around the problem of the XI being dominated by one or two nations who have better-resourced development pathways, and partly to celebrate the vastly more global nature of the U19 World Cup than its senior men’s counterpart. Nigeria and Japan would not have had a sniff at a global qualifier for a men’s 50 over World Cup, let alone the tournament itself, in its current restrictive form.
Sadly, because 16 into 11 doesn’t go, the likes of Ifeanyichukwu Uboh and Kento Ota Dobell miss out on our team too. Our XI is composed of one player from each of the top 11 placed nations: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies, Australia, Afghanistan, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and it will be a balanced XI that could actually be of use in a real 50 over game.
With the rules in place, let’s have at it!
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NO.1: YASHASVI JAISWAL (INDIA)
No surprises at the top of the order. With 400 runs at an average of 133.33, 4 fifties and an unbeaten hundred in the semi-final against Pakistan, the young man from a town of 17,000 people in Uttar Pradesh who spent three years sleeping in the groundsman’s tent on Bombay’s Azad Maidan and selling pani puri on the streets was the undoubted star batter of this year’s tournament.
In the context of a youth World Cup it’s hard to see someone who’s just landed a 2.4 crore rupee ($336,000 US, £260,000) IPL deal and has a senior List A double hundred against an attack with two India internationals and an IPL regular as an underdog, but his personal path has been tougher than most. Watching the next phase of his cricketing journey will be fascinating.
NO.2: TADIWANASHE MARUMANI (ZIMBABWE)
Harare-born left-hander Marumani transcended of slow pitches and sometimes rain-soaked outfields to score 210 runs in just 4 innings at an average of 52.50 and a strike rate of 110.52 (6.63 RPO). No opener who batted more than once scored faster, and only 3 in the whole tournament managed more runs.
He gave notice of his talent in the middle order with 53 in a rain-affected warm-up game vs England, and when moved up the order was the bane of Scotland in particular with 85 off 55 in a group game and 90 off 92 in the 11th place play-off.
NO.3: BRYCE PARSONS (SOUTH AFRICA)
Another free-scoring left-hander, Parsons was one of only three number 3s in the whole tournament who scored at over a run a ball, and was third in the overall run-scoring charts. He also chipped in with 5 wickets in 6 games, and in his two senior T20s so far for Gauteng has been more impactful with his left-arm spin than with the bat.
He hit 121 against Canada and 84 against UAE, both at over a run a ball, but his most impressive knock was right at the start of the tournament in defeat against Afghanistan. His 40 off 42 belied the carnage that was to come (more of which anon), and while impressive at the time looks even more so in hindsight. He wasn’t able to repeat Aiden Markram’s 2014 heroics, but he was a standout in a disappointing campaign for the hosts.
NO.4: BECKHAM WHEELER-GREENALL (NEW ZEALAND)
Born the day after the man he is named for set up Sol Campbell’s headed goal from a corner in England’s 2002 World Cup opener vs Sweden in Saitama, Japan, Dunedin-born right-hander Wheeler-Greenall was a good schoolboy footballer and wears the no.23 in honour of David’s shirt number at Real Madrid and LA galaxy. But it is with bat in hand where his true talents lie, and it’s become very obvious that he’s made the right choice between cricket spikes and football boots.
He twice showed his ability to score fluently in spite of both conditions and match situation, first in a crunch group game vs Sri Lanka where he scored 80 off 111 to break the back of a chase that saw New Zealand avoid dropping into the plate section of the tournament, and even more so in his outstanding 75* off 83 in the semi-final against Bangladesh. He is captain of the Otago Under 19s at just 17, and his development will be watched with interest across Aotearoa.
NO.5: QASIM AKRAM (PAKISTAN)
Lahori 17 year old Qasim’s most remembered moment at the tournament will unfortunately probably him being beaten to the non-striker’s end by his captain Rohail Nazir while the stumps were being broken at the other end in the semi-final against India. But he was an important component in Pakistan getting to the final four in the first place: his 8 overs, 2 maidens, 1/15 and unbeaten 25* were crucial in the quarter-final win against an impressive Afghanistan team.
Qasim, who is a fixture and sometimes captain for Central Punjab’s Under-19s, has the stated ambition of being the best batter in the world. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be motivated or crushed by that goal.
NO.6: AKBAR ALI (BANGLADESH) - CAPTAIN & WICKET-KEEPER
He already has two men’s List A fifties, shining in a Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan team that endures relegation from the Dhaka Premier Division. And with the gloves, his leg-side catch off Avishek Das to dismiss Kartik Tyagi showed he is a very tidy wicket-keeper. But it was his captaincy and his batting in the final that had one Bangladeshi paper naming the victors’ captain Akbar the Great.
It would have been easy to go defensive in the face of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s strokeplay - but Akbar kept the field up, kept searching for wickets, and Bangladesh sparked a collapse of 7/21 in 7.3 overs and put themselves in the game.
It would have been easy to wilt when Ravi Bishnoi’s unpickable googlies reduced Bangladesh from 50/0 to 65/4 in the second innings’ own 7-over period of carnage. But Akbar first dug in, then took on Bishnoi, then helped Parvez Hossain Emon, who returned having gone off retired hurt in the midst of the wrist-spin whirlwind, overcome the pain in his hamstring and keep Bangladesh ticking over - and, crucially, ahead of the DLS par score. The two put on 41 in 10 overs.
It would have been easy to lose faith in the tail when Parvez, desperately stretching to reach the pitch of Jaiswal’s part-time leggies, chipped to Akash Singh at extra-cover. Bangladesh at that point still needed 27, were just 3 ahead of DLS, Bishnoi had an over left, and the no.9 was Rakibul Hasan who averaged 9.5 at Under-19 ODI level.
Akbar shielded Rakibul from most of the strike as India bowled out first Bishnoi, then premier fast bowler Tyagi, then turned to Jaiswal and spinning all-rounder Atharva Ankolekar. When the rain came down, Bangladesh had clawed their way to a lead over DLS of 18. This translated into 7 more needed off 30 when the players came back on with a revised target, and, well - you know the rest.
Akbar spoke in the delirious minutes after victory was sealed of wanting this be a stepping stone to future glory for him and his team. His desire is shared by hundreds of millions in Bangladesh, but few if any are as committed to this lofty goal.
NO.7: GEORGE BALDERSON (ENGLAND)
Despite good coaching resources, frequent overseas tours and talented players, England’s Under-19s have disappointed since the team captained by Will Rhodes and including Dom Sibley, Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke and Ryan Higgins finished 3rd in 2014. The 9th they managed this year, was in fact England’s worst ever finish at an Under 19 World Cup.
This speaks to an experience gap, or perhaps a longer learning curve, as much as anything else - only 4 of the squad have played more than 1 first-class game. Young Lions captain Balderson, though a regular for Lancashire 2nds, isn’t one of them, but the left-hander who bowls right-arm seam made good use of his ball-striking ability to finish as England’s fastest scorer (S/R 117.24, 7.03 RPO), didn’t go wicketless in any of his 5 games, and starred with bat and ball in the plate semi-final against Zimbabwe, hitting 45* off 30 and taking 3/29.
NO.8: SHAFIQULLAH GHAFARI (AFGHANISTAN)
The Under 19 World Cup has been a launchpad for several excellent Afghan spinners - think Rashid Khan in 2016 and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Qais Ahmed in 2018 - but Shafiqullah outdid them all, and how. In 45.4 overs across 5 games, the young man from Kabul with the unpickable googly took 16 wickets at an average of 7.00 and an economy rate of 2.45.
To put that into context, across the 32 year history of the tournament:
No bowler has taken more wickets in fewer or as many games
No bowler who’s bowled more than 12 total overs has a better average
Only four bowlers have bowled more overs for a better economy rate
He had particular fun against hosts South Africa: his 6/15 to detonate the young Proteas’ lower order in the tournament opener was never bettered, and in the 7th place playoff victory that closed things out for Afghanistan he on he nearly repeated the dose with 4/15. Shafiqullah has had modest returns from his 2 first-class and 7 senior T20 games so far in Afghan domestic cricket, but this tournament could be the making of him.
NO.9: NYEEM YOUNG (WEST INDIES)
Trinidadian seamer Jayden Seales & Guyanese left-arm spinner and captain Ashmead Nedd may have taken more wickets, but it was the young man from Barbados who made the most telling contributions. Playing his second Under 19 World Cup, Young adapted nicely to a new role as a lower-order hitter and middle order and death bowler: in the crucial group game against England it was his supercharged 66 off 41 that got to West Indies to a significant total, and his middle-overs burst of 5/45 that derailed the chase, and sent West Indies into the Super League.
Young has laid out his ambitions: he wants to break into a Test-player heavy Barbados team, play in the CPL, and ultimately represent the senior men in maroon in all formats. We should applaud such ambitious and public goal-setting.
NO.10: TANVEER SANGHA (AUSTRALIA)
The legspinner from southwest Sydney did not cover himself in glory off the field, taking part in some ill-advised Instagram comment nonsense, but with ball in hand he was spectacular for all the right reasons. His burgeoning personal philosophy on his art is that ‘legspinner’s aren’t meant to be defensive’, and his commitment to wicket-taking above all else was handsomely rewarded.
Nowhere were his talents more evident than in the 5th place playoff semi-final win against Australia where he out leg-spun Shafiqullah to take 4/41, including two in the same over. Lloyd Pope may have made himself a cult hero in 2018, but Sangha was far more crucial to the green-and-gold cause:
Sangha: 15 wickets in 48 overs, average 11.46, economy 3.58, strike rate 19.2
Rest: 24 wickets in 191 overs, average 32.96, economy 4.14, strike rate 47.8
Sangha was in the Sydney Sixers’ BBL squad this year but did not play - it surely cannot be too long until we see him in Sixers and New South Wales lineups.
NO.11: DILSHAN MADUSHANKA (SRI LANKA)
With the pitches often slow and the outfields even slower, this was very much a tournament for the spinners. But the left-arm seamer from Hambantota (home of Sri Lanka’s controversial ruling Rajapaksa family, and a stadium named for one of that dynasty the building of which nearly bankrupted the board) bucked the trend, finishing as the tournament’s leading seamer with 13 wickets at an average of 18.46. He was by the standards of this tournament expensive with an economy rate of 5.29, but his strike rate of 20.9 wasn’t bettered by any seamer who bowled as many overs and was miles better than any of his team-mates.
His best figures came against tournament rookies Japan, but the fact that he didn’t go wicketless in any of his 5 games speaks to a consistent level of penetration that could serve him well as his career progresses. Here’s hoping he is not another promising seam bowler chewed up and spat out by Sri Lanka’s ramshackle domestic system.
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That’s your run-through the most truly balanced and global Team of the Tournament you could ever hope to read. How many of this XI will make it at international level? Who should I have included instead? And how would this team do in a hypothetical Under 19 World Cup? Let me know in the comments and on Twitter!