ICC U19 Cricket World Cup: Bangladesh Rely On Home Advantage And Experience To Topple South Africa

Bangladesh hopes to use home advantage and an experienced squad to make a flying start in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Bangladesh 2017 by beating defending champion South Africa in the tournament opener in Chittagong on 27 January.

The Group A fixture in the 16-nation tournament, which features nine Test-playing nations and seven Associate and Affiliate Members – Afghanistan, Canada, Fiji, Namibia, Nepal, Ireland and Scotland – sets the stage for what promises to be an exciting and competitive event.

According to the event format, the top two sides from each of the four groups will progress to the Super League Stage and the bottom two will feature in the Plate Championship.

With Scotland and Namibia the other sides in Group A, a victory for Bangladesh over South Africa will go a long way in helping the host nation top the group and avoid a potential quarter-final clash against a power-packed India coached by batting great Rahul Dravid.

The Bangladesh squad boasts five players who also played in the 2014 event in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It includes Mehidy Hassan Miraz, who enjoys the rare distinction of being captain for the second time in a row. The off-spinner and right-hand batsman, who celebrated his 18th birthday in October, had not turned 16 when he lead the team in the UAE two years ago.

With experience on his side and a recent winning streak against South Africa, both at home and away, Mehidy was confident that Bangladesh, which finished ninth in 2014, will be a force to reckon with on home soil.

“South Africa is the defending champion but we have dominated it since its World Cup triumph,” the skipper said, adding: “If we play to our potential, then we know we can beat it.

“South Africa is first up and it is crucial that we make a positive start because then we will have a very good chance of topping the group as we are stronger than both Scotland and Namibia. If we win the group, the pressure will ease a lot.”

South Africa’s captain Tony de Zorzi admitted the task ahead was not easy, but said his team will attempt to justify its status as the defending champion. Having lost two finals – to Australia in 2002 and to India in 2008 – South Africa proved third time lucky when it defeated Pakistan by six wickets in the UAE to bag the title.

“Defending the title will not be an easy task, knowing the amount of talent offered from around the world, but knowing my group of players and their abilities, anything is possible,” de Zorzi said.

“The end-goal would obviously be to defend the World Cup, but as a team we also want to show that we are worthy custodians of this massive honour, and we will do our best to represent our country.”

Scotland and Namibia, meanwhile, are determined to show they will not be pushovers as both aim to make the quarter-finals for the first time.

“The squad is thrilled to be part of such a huge event and we all can’t wait to get there,” said Scotland’s captain Neil Flacks.

“Our aim for this World Cup is to finish in the top eight, which means getting out of our group. The lads are in great form coming into the World Cup after a busy summer together. We are full of confidence and have a belief that we can go far in this tournament. We are a closely a knit team which puts us in good stead to go further in the competition.”

Namibia captain Zane Green, who along with team-mate SJ Loftie-Eaton will be taking part in his second World Cup, said the aim was to better his nation’s best finish of 11th in Kuala Lumpur in 2008.

“For a small nation it is a very big honour to compete in the biggest age-group tournament,” he said. “We are most definitely looking at moving past the group stages and the focus will be to win two of the three group stages. It will not be an easy task but we believe that we have the players to be competitive who can cause a few upsets.”

Bangladesh Cricket
photo credit: Peter Baker
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Squads:
South Africa – Tony de Zorzi (capt.), Ziyaad Abrahams, Dean Foxcroft, Dayyaan Galiem, Willie Ludick, Wandile Makwethu, Conner McKerr, Rivaldo Moonsamy, Wiaan Mulder, Luke Philander, Farhaan Sayanvala, Lutho Sipamla, Liam Smith, Kyle Verreynne and Sean Whitehead.
Coach – Laurence Mahatlane

Bangladesh – Mehidy Hassan Miraz (capt.), Jaker Ali Anik,, Saleh Ahmed Shawon Gazi, Mohammed Saif Hassan, Zakir Hasan, Shafiul Hayet, Mehede Hasan, Mohammad Abdul Halim, Joyraj Sheik Imon, Ariful Islam Jony, Sanjit Saha, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Saeed Sarker, Shaif Uddin.
Coach – Mohammad Mizanur Rahman

Scotland – Neil Flack (capt.), Haris Aslam, Ryan Brown, Scott Cameron, Harris Carnegie, Mohammad Azeem Dar, Mohammad Ghaffar, Rory Johnston, Ihtisham Malik, Finlay McCreath, Mitchell Rao, Owais Shah, Simon Whait, Jack Waller, Ben Wilkinson.
Coach – Gordon Drummond and Cedric English

Namibia – Zane Green (capt.), Petrus Burger, Charl Brits, Fritz Coetzee, Niko Davin, Sj Loftie-Eaton, Mushi Honga, Burton Jacobs, Lohan Louwrens, Jurgen Linde, Michael Van Lingen, Chrischen Oliver, Francios Rautenbach, Warren Van Wyk, Eben Van Wyk,
Coach – Rangarirai Manyande

Group A schedule:
27 Jan: Bangladesh v South Africa, Chittagong
29 Jan: Scotland v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar
31 Jan: Bangladesh v Scotland, Cox’s Bazar; South Africa v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar
2 Feb: Bangladesh v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar; South Africa v Scotland, Cox’s Bazar

18 players set to take part in their second ICC U19 Cricket World Cup #U19CWC

The 11th edition of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup will be played across four cities in Bangladesh from January 27 to February 14, featuring nine Test-playing nations and seven the Associate and Affiliate members – Afghanistan, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, Namibia, Nepal and Scotland.

To be asked to represent your country at a world-level tournament is any budding teenage cricketer’s dream, but to take part in two editions before turning 19 is a remarkable accomplishment reserved for a select band who display talent beyond their years.

Bangladesh’s Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hassan Miraz enjoys the rare distinction of captaining his nation in both the 2014 and 2016 events. Mehidy, who celebrated his 18th birthday in October, had not turned 16 when he led the team in the UAE.

Besides Mehidy, the hosts have four other players with previous experience of having taken part in the sport’s premier age-group tournament. They are Najmul Hossain, Joyraj Sheik, Zakir Hasan and Saeed Sarker.

Mehidy was confident that Bangladesh, which finished ninth in 2014, will be a force to reckon with on home soil.

“The fact that many of us have been in the under-19 team for more than two years means that we are fairly experienced at this level,” the Bangladesh captain said. “We pretty much have the same set of coaches and team management who understand our needs.”

Defending champion South Africa, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe will take the field with a fresh set of cricketers, but most of the other teams have players with previous experience in the tournament.

Three-time former champions India has in its ranks Sarfaraz Khan, Ricky Bhui and Avesh Khan, who helped their team finish fifth in the UAE.

Sarfaraz, one of India’s brightest young batsmen who turns out for Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, insisted he had an unfinished business at hand in Bangladesh.

“Our hopes of defending the title in 2014 were dashed when we lost to England in the quarter-finals,” the stocky batsman said. “That really hurts and we are determined to go all the way this time.

“It helps to have played at the senior level in domestic cricket but I can’t be complacent about that. We will be competing against the world’s best junior players in Bangladesh. I just want to do well and help my team win.”

Afghanistan has retained four members of the squad that finished seventh in 2014. They are Ihsanullah Janat, who is now the captain, Muslim Musa, Waheed Shafaq and Zia-ur-Rehman Akbar.

“It is a big plus to have four players from the last World Cup because they can utilise their experience for the benefit of other players,” said Ihsanullah.

Abraash Khan of Canada, Shimron Hetmyer of the West Indies and New Zealand’s Josh Finnie will return as captains of their respective teams hoping to better the 2014 performances where the West Indies finished sixth, New Zealand 10th and Canada 15th.

“The chance for me to go to two World Cups is obviously pretty special,” said Finnie. “The call up for the last one was unexpected and while I didn’t get much game time, the experience of going over to Dubai and being part of the tournament will hopefully help out in this year’s campaign.”

Namibia’s squad includes two members of their 2014 squad that finished 14th with Zane Green taking over as captain and SJ loftie-Eaton a key member of the side.

Nepal v Uganda – ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2015
photo credit: ©ICC

“I think the positives for myself and SJ is that we have experienced the taste of playing in such a big tournament and we know what to expect,” said Green. “We can use that experience to help the younger players in our team perform better in different scenarios.”

Ryan Brown is the only Scotland player making his second appearance in the tournament. He played just one match in 2014 where he took two wickets for 18 runs.

“The 2014 World Cup was an amazing experience,” said Brown. “It was a huge learning curve in terms of increased media attention, more intense rules and regulations and even higher quality of cricket.”

Nepal and Ireland did not qualify in 2014, while Fiji is the only newcomer to the event.