Kirk McKenzie's cramp-ridden innings of 99 looked sure to carry the West Indies to victory, but lower-order rebellions are quickly becoming a theme in South Africa
New Zealand's late comeback against the West Indies was not the first significant wag of the tail of this Under-19 World Cup, and it almost certainly won't be the last.
Since its very first day, when South Africa's demon quick Gerald Coetzee added a rapid 38 after the rest of his side had folded to Afghanistan's Shafiqullah Ghafari, the tournament frequently exhibited 50-over cricket at its best, with low scores and tense exchanges winding their way across the day to generate pressure unlike anything these young players will ever have come across before.
In the run-up, New Zealand and the West Indies had looked very similar sides, with limited preparation at Youth ODI level for their 15-strong squads and a distinct lack of reliable runs up at the top of the order. Neither even appeared particularly likely contenders to escape from their groups – since the 2018 edition, the Blackcaps had won just two of 13 outings, and the West Indies had only scraped past Canada in a warm-up and finished a comfortable third in a home tri-series one month before.
But, as the men in black know all too well, in knockout cricket only one team can hold their nerve and come away with a win, and there will of course be nobody complaining that it took the biggest unbroken ninth-wicket partnership in Youth ODI history to take them there.
Joey Field and Kristian Clarke met at the crease with 91 balls remaining and a run pretty much required off each and every one of them, yet haste was nowhere near their agenda. Eight entire overs were eaten up before either one hit a ball at the rope, and two were required from each ball of the last four overs before they looked to take on the bowling of Matthew Forde and Nyeem Young, whose powers had apparently run out against England and Australia earlier in the tournament.
With parallels to Australia's last-ditch magic against England (40 runs from 16 balls) and New Zealand's own against Sri Lanka (46 from 28) swirling around, the most improbable result also felt the most obvious, and was ultimately the one we got: the West Indies finally surrendered their grip on proceedings, and Field and Clarke strode home 86 runs later as New Zealand's high scorers with two balls to spare.
In a far cry from senior competitions, this event has seen only three scores of 300-plus from its opening 30 games, and the teams finding ways to win are not the ones blasting out of the gates but rather the ones who appear to understand the virtue of patience and the value of having wickets in hand. If their top order too can cotton on, New Zealand's first Under-19 trophy may be little more than a week away.
Joey Field joined Kristian Clarke for a nerveless ninth-wicket partnership
One week ago, it took a belligerent 80 from Beckham Wheeler-Greenall to push New Zealand through to this stage at Sri Lanka's expense on the 599th delivery of the day.
That effort had required the country's second-highest chasing total in Under-19 history, and even the target of 243 had only been managed by No.8 man Ahan Wickramasinghe top-scoring and adding 51 runs in the last 10 overs.
Today's goal of 239 seemed a little more attainable, but only after the West Indies built their innings around the even pace of Kirk McKenzie before he was stretchered off the field on 99. Wickets in the 36th, 37th and 38th overs cut the scoring rate back under five, and there was simply nothing left in the tank by then (or McKenzie's cramping right leg) to push matters on from the platform they had built themselves.
New Zealand's reply followed a yet more genteel trajectory, with only eight runs from the first six overs before leading scorer Rhys Mariu cracked a pair of boundaries to remove Matthew Forde from the attack and start making inroads at a steady, rate-tracking pace. But Mariu went to Joshua James for 26, and within three overs 52 for 1 had become 67 for 4 and early drafts of today's reports were firmly under way.
Simon Keene and Quinn Sunde held firm briefly, almost perfectly dividing another 65 between them and in Keene's case hanging around long enough to get New Zealand more than half-way there, both in terms of overs and runs. But then came Ashmead Nedd for a second spell of left-arm tweakers, and he caught Keene's edge off a back-foot defence before adding Adithya Ashok and last hope Wheeler-Greenall in consecutive overs.
That was to be the last time the West Indies looked in control, despite the rate required soon topping 10.
Even as part of a West Indies squad fast becoming specialists in picking off more fancied oppositions, this tournament has been quite something for Kirk McKenzie.
Cast your minds back 10 whole days and you may recall him coming in as a specialist No.9 batsman against Australia, where he responded to an unbearably tense chase situation by simply walloping the last six runs required over cover from Connor Sully.
England may well think McKenzie not only dug them a hole but also created a monster in that moment, as Sully would himself go on to come in at No.9 against the Young Lions in a live-or-die Group B fixture just a few days later, finishing the job off the last ball after a remarkable 35 not out from 20 balls. But I digress.
Unlike Sully, McKenzie ostensibly does not belong in the tail. That Australia game aside, our friends at Cricket Archive reckon the only time he has batted anywhere below No.4 was in a pre-tournament 15-a-side warm-up clash – where he was run out for a golden duck.
And so it was today that he was back at his usual haunt of second drop, and early wickets for Joey Field and David Hancock – both flippant chips into the air from the West Indies openers – ensured he was called upon just 9.1 overs into a morning where his skipper had opted to bat in the tournament's first of six trips to Benoni's Willowmoore Park.
Kirk McKenzie became the first player dismissed for 99 in U19 World Cup cricket in over 20 years
The primary concern over this West Indies team ahead of the tournament was that batting form had well and truly abandoned them all – in six tri-series meetings with England and Sri Lanka in Antigua last month, Kimani Melius was the only player to even pass 100 runs.
Instead, the method that seemed to be serving them well until this point was to have one batsman do useful things each game and share the duties around the pack each time. McKenzie's crisp anchor innings today was their eighth score of 40-plus, and it made him the seventh different player to make one. As he drove through towards a maiden century, he looked certain to at least double the 105 runs he had put together in his eight earlier Youth ODI appearances.
But then cramp struck, and McKenzie found himself hobbling around the crease and finding himself ever more deeply entrenched into the nervous 90s before ultimately falling to the ground and being stretchered away on 99 not out.
With wickets tumbling around, the one-legged Jamaican found himself back in the middle all of five overs later, but there was to be no fairytale finish: Kristian Clarke sent him and the West Indies trudging back to the hutch the very next ball, though it took a typical display of allround New Zealand niceness from Joey Field and captain Jesse Tashkoff to actually get him there.
An injured Kirk McKenzie being carried off the pitch by New Zealand's players 👏#U19CWC #WIvNZpic.twitter.com/wuzpnsPslX
— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) January 29, 2020
Australia's push for a fourth title came to an end yesterday as their batsmen were thoroughly outplayed by India's seamers, not least in a farcical opening to second-innings proceedings as top-order prodigy Jake Fraser-McGurk found himself run out without facing with the very first ball of the afternoon.
But when we made a throwaway remark here about it being a less-than-ideal way to end a tournament that had started off with a sumptuous 84 against the West Indies, we did so knowing full well that Australia's campaign has two more chapters to go as they fight for a fifth-place finish in the Super League playoffs.
What had not been anticipated was this morning's news that Fraser-McGurk was being rushed back on the first flight home to Australia with one of the all-time greatest cricketing excuses, and one the 17-year-old can surely use around the playground when he gets back to school: being scratched on the face by a monkey.
The incident itself took place between last Thursday's final-ball victory over England and Monday's game in Potchefstroom, though the timing of the announcement and the wording of their press release leaves a lingering feeling that Cricket Australia's concerns for their star talent's welfare only seemed to come into play once there was no longer a tournament trophy on the line.
"We want to make sure that Jake doesn't have any ongoing medical concerns as a result of the incident so we have taken the best course of action," said board medic Alex Kountouris.
"This involves the player returning to Australia for the treatment required within the recommended seven days of the incident taking place."
While Australia have yet to announce whether they will call up a replacement for this weekend's playoff semi-final in Potchefstroom, one side that has pulled a switcheroo is Bangladesh, who will be without the services of seamer Mrittunjoy Chowdhury for the remainder of their stay.
Chowdhury's ailment is far less unique in nature – a labral tear of the left shoulder, to be precise – and his side have added off-spinning allrounder SM Meherob Hasan to their squad as cover ahead of tomorrow's Super League quarter-final face-off with hosts South Africa at the JB Marks Oval.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.