U19 Cricket World Cup: Group Stage Review

The 2024 U19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa commenced on 19 January with 16 teams competing for 12 spots in the Super Sixes stage. The group stage consisted of four groups of four teams each.

Each group played all their matches at their own venue across the country as follows:

Group A – India, Bangladesh, Ireland, USA

Venue: Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.

Group B – SA, England, West Indies, Scotland

Venue: JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom.

Group C – Australia, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Namibia

Venue: Diamond Oval in Kimberly.

Group D – Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Nepal

Venue: Buffalo Park in East London.

OPENING SALVOES

The hosts kickstarted the tournament as the South Africa U19 side took on West Indies at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom, while Ireland took on the United States of America (USA) at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.

The SA U19s lost the toss and were asked to bat first and managed to get off to a solid start, despite losing Steve Stolk early for five. Lhuan-dre Pretorius set the platform with a 34-ball 40 as the SA U19s made their way to 58-2 at the end of the powerplay. The West Indies then hit back to reduce the junior Proteas to 147-6 and in danger of being dismissed for under 200. However, Dewan Marais (65 off 38) had other plans in conjunction with captain Juan James (47 off 54) as they stitched together a remarkable partnership of 131 off only 98 balls to lift the total to 285-9 at the end of their 50 overs.

Kwena Maphaka stormed in with his left-arm pace and ripped out 5-38, which included four wickets with inswinging yorkers and one with a brutal bouncer, while Riley Norton took 3-66 as they managed to beat the Windies by 31 runs. Jewel Andrew’s brilliant 130 off 96 balls went in vain.

Ireland comfortably beat the USA by seven wickets with 58 balls to spare thanks to three wickets each for Reuben Wilson and Oliver Riley, with wicketkeeper Ryan Hunter rounding off the chase with an unbeaten 50 off 63 balls.

Defending champions India got their campaign off to rollicking start by beating Bangladesh by 84 runs, who were the U19 champions the last time the U19 World Cup was hosted in South Africa in 2020. India set Bangladesh a target of 252 thanks to 76 off 96 balls by Adarsh Singh and 64 off 94 balls by Uday Saharan. In reply, Mohammad Shihab James made 54 (77) for Bangladesh but they couldn’t string together big enough partnerships.

England didn’t have much trouble in putting Scotland away by 7 wickets after restricting them to 174 all out. Farhan Ahmed, younger brother of Rehan Ahmed who is playing for England in the ongoing test series against India, took 3-22 while Luc Benkenstein, son of former Proteas batter Dale Benkenstein, took 3-41. The chase was completed at a canter as Ben McKinney plundered 88 off 68 balls, ably supported by his opening partner Jaydn Denly who made 40 off 50 balls.

Pakistan thumped Afghanistan by 181 runs after setting them a target of 285. Shahzaib Khan set the tone from the start and finished with 106 off 126 balls before Ubaid Shah, younger brother of Naseem Shah who plays for the senior side, ripped through the Afghanistan batting line-up with 4-26.

Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 39 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method after rain intervened. An initial target of 205 for Zimbabwe to chase became 129 in 22 overs upon resumption of proceedings, but 89 was all that their batters were able to muster. For Sri Lanka Dinura Kalupahana scored 60 (55), while Malsha Tharupathi killed the chase with his 4-17.

An attacking 147 off 125 balls by Snehith Reddy helped New Zealand put up a total of 302-8 against Nepal, with Oscar Jackson adding a valuable 75 off 81 balls. In reply Nepal put up a strong fight with Arjun Kumal getting 90 (104) and the lower order chipping in nicely to get them to a respectable total of 238-9, but they ultimately fell short by 64 runs.

Bangladesh won a closely contested battle with Ireland by six wickets after they had set Bangladesh 236 to chase in their 50 overs. This was in great part thanks to a 113-ball 90 by Kian Hilton, who is formerly from King Edward VII in Johannesburg. It was a team effort with the bat for Bangladesh in the chase as four of their batters scored over 30 with Mohammad Shihab James top scoring with 55 (54), his second fifty in the tournament.

After bowling Namibia out for just 91, Australia had a bit of a scare in the chase where they were 57-5 at one point. However, captain Hugh Weibgen made a composed 39* (43) to ensure a victory by four wickets. For Namibia it was Jack Brassell’s 3-28 that kept them in the game, but he ultimately couldn’t outshine the Australia speedster Callum Vidler who picked up 4-17 in his 8.1 overs.

SA VS ENGLAND

On 23 January 2024, the SA U19s faced up against England, with both sides entering the match with confidence after winning their opening matches. The dangerous opening duo of Steve Stolk and Lhuan-dre Pretorius started off brightly, bringing up a 71-run partnership in only 10.5 overs before Pretorius lost his wicket for 25 (29). He was soon followed by David Teeger (0 off 4). Stolk and Seletswane did a bit of a repair job, but after Stolk ran himself out on 64 off 55 balls (11 x 4s, 1 x 6), a collapse followed leaving the SA U19s on 114-5. However, once again Dewan Marais came to their rescue with a 39-ball 42. None of the batters to follow however were able to pass 20 runs and the innings stumbled to 230 all out in the final over of the innings.

In reply England looked in control throughout, despite Tristan Luus taking the early wicket of Jadn Denly (1). Ben McKinny looked at ease at the crease for the second match in a row as he strolled to 48 off 67 balls, but it was Noah Thain who stole the show with his 63 off 82 balls. By the time the rain started to fall in over number 29, England were 36 runs ahead of the DLS par score which ended up being the final over of the match to give them a comfortable victory. The SA U19s didn’t look like taking wickets, which meant that they were never really in the game.

The Afghanistan versus New Zealand match was a low-scoring thriller. New Zealand dismissed Afghanistan for only 91, with Matt Rowe taking 5-21 in his eight overs. Thoughts of an easy chase were quickly put to bed as Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar dismantled the top order of New Zealand for figures of 3-29. Khalil Ahmed and Arab Gul Momand both took two wickets each to leave New Zealand on 90-8 with two runs required. Then it happened. Naseer Khan Maroofkhil ran out Ewald Schreuder at the non-striker’s end, or as previously known, via a Mankad. However, with tensions high, Matt Rowe kept his cool and hit the winning runs to ensure that New Zealand scraped through by one wicket.

Namibia held some hope of beating Sri Lanka after bowling them all out for 133 thanks to Zacheo van Vuuren who took 4-23 in his eight overs. This hope however was short-lived as Sri Lanka ripped through the heart of the Eagles’ batting line-up. Vishwa Lahiru took 3-19 and Ruvishan Perera 3-3 as Namibia were bundled out for only 56.

A few one-sided matches followed between 24 and 26 January 2024:

- West Indies beat Scotland by five wickets with 89 balls remaining.
- Pakistan beat Nepal by five wickets with 14 balls remaining. .
- India beat Ireland by 201 runs. .
- Australia beat Zimbabwe by 225 runs. .
- Bangladesh beat the USA by 121 runs.

On 26 January 2024 the West Indies beat England by two wickets in a closely-contested match that meant that both ended their group stage with two wins each, which left the door open slightly ajar for the SA U19s to potentially force their way to the top of the group if they managed to beat Scotland convincingly.

Afghanistan played against Nepal in a must-win match as the loser would not qualify for the Super Sixes. Nepal managed to dismiss Afghanistan for 145 as Aakash Chand took 5-34 in his eight overs. In reply Nepal had early troubles with the bat as they were reduced to 24-3. However, captain Dev Khanal took the lead with the bat and made a mature 58 off 89 balls to lead Nepal towards their target. Things got very tight in the end as Afghanistan continued to take wickets and left Nepal on 144-9, still two runs away from victory. Subash Bhandari held his nerve to seal the chase with a boundary and the whole Nepal team broke out into hysterical celebrations.

Zimbabwe managed to comfortably chase down a target of 147 set by Namibia with eight wickets and 87 balls to spare. Pakistan breezed past New Zealand as they chased down a target of 141 without losing a single wicket and with almost half their overs remaining.

SA VS SCOTLAND

The big match on 27 January 2024 was the one between the SA U19s and Scotland. Scotland managed to put up a substantial total of 269-9 thanks to classy knocks by Jamie Dunk (90 off 121) and Owen Gould (97 off 89). It was a poor showing with the ball by the SA U19s who bowled 23 wides and one no-ball. The lack of control made run scoring easy for Scotland. Riley Norton was the top wicket-taker with his 3-48 in his nine overs.

In between innings it was determined that Scotland had to restrict the SA U19s to 180 runs or less to surpass their Net Run Rate and qualify for the Super Sixes ahead of the junior Proteas. On the other hand, the SA U19s needed to reach their target of 270 within 30.1 overs to surpass the Net Run Rate of England to top the group and have the advantage of playing their matches in the Super Sixes at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom where they had already been playing all their matches and were acclimatised to conditions. Topping the group would also mean not having to play against the team who would go on to top group C (later confirmed as Australia) during the Super Sixes.

It was clear that the SA U19s needed a fast and solid start to have any chance of maintaining the run rate of nine runs per over required for the entire chase to top the group. This meant that their destructive opening pair of Steve Stolk and Lhuan-dre Pretorius needed to fire once again. Not only did they fire, they set the whole stadium ablaze. More specifically, Steve Stolk.

Stolk with a license to go big from ball one is a dangerous customer. He took 12 off the first over and by the time the third over started he was on 16 off seven balls. Then absolute chaos ensued. Stolk smoked Qasim Khan for 34 runs in the third over of the innings, which included five sixes and one four. In the process Stolk also brought up his 50 off only 13 deliveries. He broke the previous record for the fastest 50 in U19 World Cups, held by Rishabh Pant, by an astounding five balls. Just to emphasise this again, Stolk brought up his 50 in the third over of the innings. The 34 runs he took of Khan’s over was also a new U19 World Cup record.

A third record was soon to follow as, after an opening partnership of 114 in 8.5 overs, the SA U19s were on 126-1 after the powerplay; more runs than any other team had ever scored after the first 10 overs in an innings of an Under-19 World Cup match.

Stolk was finally dismissed for 86 off only 37 balls, having smashed seven fours and eight sixes. Despite his blazing start, there was still plenty of work that needed to be done to successfully chase that top position in the group. The wise decision was made to send in the in-form Dewan Marais at No 4 to try and keep up with the pace set by Stolk. Marais did exactly that and made an unbeaten 80 off 50 balls while David Teeger made an unbeaten 43 off 38 balls to get to the target in only 27 overs, three overs ahead of schedule.

The final two matches in the group stage went as expected with India beating the USA by 201 runs and Australia beating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets to top their respective groups.

END OF GROUP STAGES

At the end of the group stage, the top run scorer thus far is Shahzaib Khan of Pakistan with 223 runs at an average of 111.50 and a strike rate of 79.07, with one century and one fifty. The top scorer for the SA U19s is Dewan Marais with 187 runs at an average of 93.50 and a strike rate of 147.24, with two fifties.

The top wicket taker is Ubaid Shah with nine wickets at an average of 11.55, and economy rate of 4.33 and a best of 4-26. The top wicket taker for the SA U19s thus far is Kwena Maphaka with seven wickets at an average of 16.71, an economy rate of 4.64 and a best of 5-38.

There are now two new groups of six where only the top two sides of each group will progress to the semifinals. The points and Net Run Rate achieved by the teams are carried over to the Super Sixes. Australia, India and Pakistan therefore have an advantage going into the Super Sixes as they are still unbeaten, while the SA U19s, despite topping their group, are only carrying over four points having lost to England. The SA U19s have however managed to avoid a rampant Australia, at least for the time being. The way the SA U19s won their last match should give them some confidence heading into the next phase of the tournament.

SUPER SIX FIXTURES

South Africa v Zimbabwe on 31 January 2024 at 10am at the JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom

South Africa v Sri Lanka on 2 February 2024 at 10am at the JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom