XAVIER VOIGT-HILL: A damp day across South Africa threatened to derail the tournament's opening weekend, but an outstanding clash in England's group instead set the World Cup alight
West Indies allrounder Nyeem Young is a relative veteran of the youth circuit, having been an impressive fixture of the death overs for the side ever since the 2018 tournament in New Zealand – where, among players with 100 or more runs, Young's strike rate of 134.48 was substantially higher than his closest competitor in Surrey's Will Jacks.
However, having been called to the crease as high as No.6 for the very first time in his Youth ODI career, the 19-year-old today took a rather different tack and played perhaps the most crucial and patient career of his nascent career to date.
The first task was to see off the potent threat of Australia's leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha, who quickly picked up the baton from the Afghanistan wrist-spinners that had flourished on the same Diamond Oval track against South Africa 24 hours prior. Though Sydney Thunder youngster Sangha offered far less in terms of bamboozling variations, he more than made up for it in guile and turn, removing Antonio Morris, Kevlon Anderson and skipper Kimani Melius to accrue figures of 3-13 in his first 5.5 overs and restore Australia's characteristic grit after a dismal batting display.
Young, however, was not phased for one second, sending the second ball he faced to the rope and continuing a belligerent run-a-ball pace both throughout the remainder of Sangha's unbroken spell and once Mackenzie Harvey's towering pacemen returned to have a crack. Only once did Young look anything close to rewarding the Australians' efforts – when cracking a Corey Kelly half-volley at some pace towards Jake Fraser-McGurk in the covers, who could not hold on or even slow the ball as Young strode to a superb half-century.
Early drizzle in Kimberley had reduced the game by just six balls a side before it could begin, but the key in chasing of 180 was always going to be holding one's nerves and simply batting out the overs. It is something that the West Indies juniors have struggled to do of late, but in Young and Matthew Forde the side had an immaculate chalk and cheese pairing wearing down the favourites with career bests scored through punchy class (61 from 69 balls) and stoic defense (23 from 50) respectively.
It was unfortunate that neither quite remained at the crease to complete their side's first victory over Australia in eight Under-19 World Cup meetings. The sixth-wicket stand they shared was worth 78 on paper but its weight in gold in the context, with just 10 runs remaining for the tail to tally by the time one then two were rapped on the pads.
Instead, honours were left to specialist No.9 batsman Kirk McKenzie, who sealed two points with a lusty six over the extra cover rope with three overs to spare. The West Indies must now avenge last month's brace of losses at home to England when the sides meet at the same ground on Monday, but the unerring spirit throughout a captivating opening fixture should set the maroon men in excellent stead.
Nerveless batting from Nyeem Young gave West Indies momentum before facing England on Monday
Great Australian batting hope Jake Fraser-McGurk is one of those players who just makes the act of playing cricket look deceptively easy. Having made elegant half-centuries in his maiden first-class and List A knocks for Victoria in November, today he opened his World Cup account against the West Indies by outscoring the efforts of his 10 teammates combined (84 from 97 v 81 from 118).
It was an innings of magnificent poise and technique – when he wasn't cheekily cocking his wrists to dispatch the West Indies' four-pronged seam attack to assorted parts of the leg-side rope, the 17-year-old found significant success peppering the cover regions with ever crisp off-drives.
However, if one is to scour Fraser-McGurk's game for an obvious flaw, it could be that he's a bit too good at such things. Twice teammates were caught dawdling outside their crease as the ball ricocheted from the straightest of bats onto the bowler's end stumps via largely unwitting West Indies body parts.
While he can hardly be blamed for this – it is, after all, the non-striker's responsibility alone not to strand themself half-way down the pitch – it was perhaps not the ideal way to dispense with the team's vital middle-order men Lachlan Hearne and captain Mackenzie Harvey.
The consequences were fairly stark: West Indies skipper Kimani Melius went back to his pacemen the second Fraser-McGurk first hit a spinner to the rope; within five balls of Jayden Seales' return, the danger man had mis-cued just his second and third deliveries of the innings and became the fifth Australian back in the hutch.
With the rest of the core long gone, including the destructive Ollie Davies for a golden duck, the 2018 finalists could not even manage five more overs in the middle under the effervescent heat of Seales and Matthew Forde, and Melius' men had set themselves just 180 to achieve the tournament's first big rebellion against the formbook.
Jonathan Figy scored the tournament's first individual century
While most squads have been assembled in South Africa for several weeks to acclimatise for the tournament, a fifth of the United Arab Emirates squad were in Oman just last week playing some full ODI cricket for the senior side as part of the Cricket World Cup League Two process.
Their promotions are perhaps as much through necessity as talent – the UAE national side has lost several senior players to anti-corruption suspensions in recent months – but the student trio of Karthik Meiyappan, Vriitya Aravind and Jonathan Figy have so far adapted to the level admirably, having previously faced their toughest competition in last summer's Under-19 qualifiers for the Asia region.
University of Leeds maths fresher Figy in particular has taken swimmingly to his return to Under-19 level, becoming his country's maiden Youth ODI centurion during a comfortable chase of 232 against Canada.
Batting through 27 overs alongside skipper Aryan Lakra, the 18-year-old became the first player to tally three figures in this year's tournament in precisely 100 nerveless deliveries, comfortably seeing off the Americas' representative just days after they had put up 271 and a valiant fight against a mighty West Indies bowling lineup in a Johannesburg warm-up outing.
The team's dominant performance in Bloemfontein also featured three wickets for seamer Sanchit Sharma and miserly work from wrist-spinner Meiyappan – will be sure to send a warning signal in the direction of Group D opponents South Africa and Afghanistan, with Lakra's outfit now knowing they have every chance of Super League qualification if they can apply some pressure to a nervy Full Member.
Tanzid Hasan led off a quickfire Bangladesh chase in Potchefstroom
A series of curtailed starts had Zimbabwe looking at a low-200s total if they could hold out for the last 22 overs of their innings against Bangladesh in Potchefstroom, but such was the rain that even the tournament's own social media accounts had declared the match aborted before a 22-over target of 130 was announced for Akbar Ali's men.
Heading in, this was one of the opening weekend's most tantalising fixtures, with Bangladesh a well-drilled side packed with promising talent and Zimbabwe talking up their chances of landing significant scalps following a string of mighty warm-up displays against India, New Zealand and South Africa.
However, the marker proved an absolute cakewalk for a determined Bangladesh top order. They raced home in little over half the time on offer as they rushed to seal victory before the heavens could open up once again, and hand themselves a hefty net run rate boost in the process.
Tanzid Hasan set the tone right away, scurrying to 32 from nine deliveries before falling to Dion Myers with the first ball of the third over – ultimately, the only inroads Zimbabwe managed in the entire innings. Opening partner Parvez Hossain Emon stayed put throughout the chase, picking up his 58 runs at a comparably pedestrian rate of 175.75, while Mahmudul Hasan Joy struck four boundaries in his last five balls to guide the team over the line with 64 balls to spare.
Though the fixture ultimately didn't provide any tests of endurance, lasting only 39.3 overs in total, further encouragement for Bangladesh will come from wickets being shared evenly across their attack, and Pakistan's opener against Scotland tomorrow is sure to be compelling viewing for the victorious side.
🚨 #NZvJPN match abandoned 🚨
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) January 18, 2020
Both teams take a point.#U19CWC pic.twitter.com/Niyk70XgoL
The other side of Potchefstroom was not quite so fortunate, however, meaning Japan came away with a point from their first ever Cricket World Cup fixture after unabating rain put paid to their opening Group A encounter against New Zealand.
It was not quite the way Marcus Thurgate's young debutants might have been dreaming of getting on the board – New Zealand had reached 195 for 2 in around by the time the weather set in for the day, with openers Rhys Mariu and Oli White having registered the tournament's first three-figure partnership in the process – but a point is a point, and the result (or lack thereof) could well have significant ramifications on the pool's final table.
An out-of-sorts young Blackcaps outfit now travel to Bloemfontein for daunting encounters with India and Sri Lanka later this week, and opening the tournament by collecting a full tally of points against a young and raw Japan side would surely have been seen as a matter of course for Jesse Tashkoff's boys in black.
After recently slipping to warm-up defeats at the hands of Zimbabwe and the UAE – countries which, while absolutely no pushovers, lack comparable resources for operating their youth programmes – a full outing against the tournament newcomers would at the very least have offered valuable time in the middle and a chance to boost squad morale.
Images: ICC / Getty
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