Sports

Sports

ICC U19 Cricket World Cup
Weather holds the key
By M. Shamil Amit
Unexpected weather that was experienced for the last few days has become a shock to the people in Sri Lanka as these conditions don’t prevail during this period of time in the island. It is going to play a vital role in the next few days, there is a doubt that the matches scheduled will not be able to be played on time.

Nevertheless the stars of the future are scheduled to be in action from today when the ICC under 19 Cricket World Cup which is the sixth in the series gets underway. Sixteen teams from around the globe will vie for the 17.25cms tall that weighs 2.5kgs trophy which is on offer.

Australia has been the only team that has clinched the title twice in 1988 and 2002 while England in 1998, India in 2000 and Pakistan (who are the defending champions) in 2004 being the other winners.

Today the tournament starts off with four matches Sri Lanka vs Scotland at R. Premadasa Stadium, South Africa vs Australia at SSC, Zimbabwe vs Ireland at NCC and New Zealand vs Bangladesh at the P. Sara Stadium. Before the commencement of the official games all the teams were given an opportunity of playing two practice games.

It was also an opportunity for the teams and officials to see the strength of the respective teams. They were pitted against teams that were not in their groups and going by the outcome of these encounters they were able to make a plan and the strategy they will have to adopt as the tournament goes by.

Of the four matches down for decision today the match that will catch the eye of the cricket fans will no doubt be Sri Lanka and Scotland and according to form the local boys should have no difficulty in overcoming their opponents. The Lankans though losing their first practice game against West Indies came back to beat defending champions Pakistan which in fact was a morale boosting win for them.

Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews while speaking to the media said “we are taking every game seriously”. They will no doubt go flat out with their strongest team to keep up their morale for the big game against India on February 10. Mathews should get the support from his team mates and the team has been together for seven months. The armory is their so the boys should know to use it with care to get to the target.

Two other interesting game on the card is between Bangladesh vs New Zealand and South Africa vs Australia. The Bangaldeshis are in top form and they have come here well prepared. Bangladesh won both their practice games against USA and Zimbabwe. They will be a team to beat in this competition having beaten Zimbabwe, Pakistan and South Africa at the Afro-Asian tournament in India two months ago and then winning the tri nation tournament at home which included Sri Lanka and England has given them the much needed confidence.

The players to watch in the side will be Tamim Iqbal Khan and Sakib Al Hasan. Tamim after his arrival has shown his opponents what to expect, he cracked an unbeaten 104 in 64 balls with 12 boundaries and five sixes. New Zealand on the other hand will be under pressure as the form shows losing both their practice matches to South Africa and West Indies.

The encounter between South Africa and Australia is in favour of the former. The Proteas though beating the Kiwis lost to England in the second practice game. Nevertheless led by Dean Elgar they come into the game with full of confidence.

The Aussie skipper Moises Henriques the only player surviving from the 2004 championship will have to carry the burden on his shoulders. Though losing both their practice matches to Pakistan and India they would have rectified their shortcomings in coming prepared this crucial match. The game between Zimbabwe and Ireland should be a close one with both teams are well balanced. But according to form Zimbabwe has the edge.

Top