Five crucial England wickets and a quickfire half-century saw the West Indies' young star catapult his side to the top of Group B, despite Australia's record efforts against debutants Nigeria
Another day in the Under-19 World Cup meant another masterclass from Nyeem Young, who backed up an unbelievably cool second-innings batting effort against Australia over the weekend with a fiery allround display to assert his West Indies side's position at the top of Group B.
Until Young got involved, England had been looking rather comfortable in their tournament opener in Kimberley. George Balderson had put the West Indies in to bat, knowing that both sides bowling first at the Diamond Oval in this tournament had torn through top orders and suffocated scoring rates with miserly spin.
It may have been a different pitch this time around, but the story was much the same. The West Indies had at least managed 34.3 overs before turning to Young at No.7 – Australia and South Africa were eight and 10 down respectively by that point – but since losing their opening wicket to the game's very first over of spin their scoring pace could best be described as lethargic.
Enter Young, the 19-year-old Bajan, and scorer of three half-centuries in his last four matches. Without hesitation he made it four from five, with today's effort the quickest of the lot (reached in 33 balls with eight convincing boundary strokes) and eventually reaching 66 from 41 deliveries, his toppling the weekend's sublime 61 against Australia as his best score in 17 Youth ODI outings to date.
Much like in that last knock, Young began by steadying the ship and rotating the strike, helping lingering No.3 man Kevlon Anderson reach an 84-ball half century before giving himself and his side full license to swing. At that point, Young was on 19 from 17 balls; the next over both batsmen sent paceman Blake Cullen over the rope and the West Indies were away.
The pair combined for 101 for the sixth wicket and sparked a charge to a formidable total of 267 – more than double what was on the board when Young had come to the crease.
Before Young, Anderson had merely been content with playing out the orthodox tweakers of Lewis Goldsworthy, striking only one ball with any gusto from the 31 of them he faced. Then, with his dominant teammate eagerly nipping at his heels and even briefly overtaking his score in almost two hours fewer, Anderson got to make the most of his self-created platform, finishing unbeaten on 86 from 105 balls.
Matthew Forde celebrates one of his five catches on the day
And Young was not content there. England evidently took pointers from Anderson on how to progress, leaving themselves requiring just shy of seven an over albeit with eight wickets in hand by the time Young took the ball for a second spell.
The danger man then saw off Dan Mousley and Jack Haynes just four balls apart only seconds before a sudden rain shower took the teams off and had groundstaff scrambling to work out which pitch it was they wanted to pop a crude tarpaulin over.
As soon as the sides came back, Young dealt England's desperate hopes three brutal blows by taking out Balderson, Goldsworthy and big-hitting allrounder Joey Evison in successive overs.
Further rain soon ensured time was called before Young had a chance to bowl a 10th over, but the damage was long done. He had become the fourth player in Under-19 World Cup history to post five wickets and a fifty in the same day, and added a third consecutive player of the match gong in tournament action after signing off in 2018 with a 33-ball 55 in the ninth-place playoff with Ireland.
Tournament pressure can do funny things. In Nyeem Young's case, it seems to be creating a real gem.
In today's other fixture, Australia rebounded from Saturday's dismal tournament opener to put themselves right back in the Group B mix by consigning debutants Nigeria to the second-fastest defeat in the tournament's 32-year history.
Leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha was a rarity among Australia's XI on Saturday in that he actually deserved to be on the winning side, and his efforts were rewarded with a haul of 5-14 from another uninterrupted 10-over spell.
The Sydney Thunder prospect did not concede a single run off the bat through his last seven overs, registering 56 dot balls to brush aside the new boys for 61 – a target then chased down without loss in only 7.4 overs.
The result was an unfortunate and unceremonious introduction to World Cup cricket for Sylvester Okpe's Nigeria side, who are in South Africa making their country's maiden appearance at any top-level ICC tournament.
Sam Fanning top-scored with 30 not out in a brisk Australian chase
A record 50 teams competed to make the final five spots for this competition, and Nigeria arrives as the only side to have gone through two tiers of regional qualification.
Before even getting the chance to secure their place with big-name scalps of Kenya and Namibia in Windhoek last March, the catchily-named Junior Yellow Greens had dominated the first ever Africa Division Two qualifier the previous summer, competing in South Africa with Ghana, Mozambique, Lesotho, Tanzania and Sierra Leone.
These players will face few tougher days on a cricket field than this, with Australian tails most certainly up for what a largely shoddy outing against the West Indies had essentially made into a must-win fixture. Australia are four-time champions and Test cricket's oldest nation. Nigeria didn't even have an under-19 team when their players were born.
With Okpe himself one of three squad members to already be a regular in the country's senior setup, which travelled to Abu Dhabi to play last year's T20 World Cup Qualifier, these youngsters stand a better chance than most of powering their country's immediate cricketing future. Gruesome days like this are only the first of many chapters.
The West Indies' formbook-bucking displays so far have only made Thursday's meeting between England and Australia at the Diamond Oval all the more enticing. Though England will still go on to face Nigeria on the final day of group stage action, the latest edition of international cricket's oldest rivalry will almost certainly see one side book their Super League place and the other resigned to a consolation battle to make the ninth-place playoff.
While both sides have entirely changed their makeup since tournament record figures of 8-25 from leg-spinner Lloyd Pope saw Australia remarkably defend 128 in the 2018 quarter-final, England's batsmen will have similar homework to do if they are to stand any chance of fulfilling their promise for this year's tournament.
After Kimani Melius disregarded a positive start to gift Hamidullah Qadri an early breakthrough in the first spin over of the West Indies innings, driving a full ball hard towards Jack Haynes at short extra cover and rounding out a wicket-maiden to open Qadri's World Cup career, Jordan Cox repaid the favour once Melius brought his spin threat Ashmead Nedd into the attack.
Among a litany of catching chances England offered up this afternoon, it was the Kent wicketkeeper's that was the most regrettable by far. Having patiently waded through early pace bolts to put up a first-wicket stand of 53 with Ben Charlesworth, Cox launched into an audacious reverse-sweep at Nedd's third delivery that was neatly snaffled by slip catcher Matthew Forde.
Jordan Cox was England's first batsman to fall after a 53-run opening partnership
Cox cannot plead ignorance to Nedd's capability of movement – he was in the England lineup that faced the West Indies three times out in Antigua just last month, and the hosts' one win in those three games came when Nedd turned in 5-27.
But England's reply today in the one fixture that mattered was one full of missed chances. As sensible as the West Indies had demonstrated a measured approach could be, each of England's top four settled themselves admirably before falling before building substantial roles in an imposing chase.
Opener Ben Charlesworth, described as England's "anchor" by teammate Jack Haynes on these pages, looked impressive and unflustered for his 36 before a loose pull at Matthew Patrick ended his innings after 20 overs in the middle.
Sussex youngster Tom Clark picked up his side's high score with 38 from 53, but an overexuberant sweep at Nedd made him England's third to go.
Haynes and Dan Mousley both miscued swipes at Nyeem Young in the four balls before a sudden rain interruption, leaving two new batsmen to try and resume proceedings on the other side of it with the par score having just leapt dramatically and the asking rate imposing.
Thursday's game will see pressures at their highest point yet, with England fully aware that anything but a first victory since arriving in South Africa will put out their hopes of repeating the successes of their 1998 predecessors.
While England will return to the Diamond Oval for Thursday's televised clash with Australia, the victorious West Indies now bid farewell to the ground that has played host to two memorable victories for the maroon-clad youngsters in the tournament's opening days.
As such, batsman Antonio Morris made sure to leave his own unique mark on the place before his team heads elsewhere in Kimberley – just across the other side of Dickenson Avenue, to be precise – to round out their pool action against Nigeria later this week. Clearly not finding it sufficient that his team was punching a substantial hole through England's World Cup dreams today, a thumping blow in the 18-year-old's cameo at the crease went clean through a press box window as well.
Antonio Morris caused some damage today!
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) January 20, 2020
His enormous six smashed a window in the media box 😬 #U19CWC | #ENGvWI | #FutureStars pic.twitter.com/4rdeX6oAdq
Unfortunately for Morris, the shot in question – alongside, of course, any cuts or trauma it may have inflicted onto the assembled corps of media and analysts – is about as notable as his contributions have been to the team's performances so far, having previously registered just nine from 26 deliveries against Australia.
Struck down the ground one-handed from a George Balderson cross-seamer, the mammoth six was his final scoring shot and only boundary during an innings of 14 today, which soon concluded after 32 balls when a meek push found its way back in the hands of miserly spinner Lewis Goldsworthy.
Images: ICC / Getty
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