Day 1 of U19 CWC 2012 Author: Maaz; Views: 526; Date: 11-08-2012, 03:59;

Australia Start Title Defence Strongly

The first televised game of the under-19 World Cup 2012 got under way at the picturesque Tony Ireland stadium between Australia and England. The hosts won the toss and elected to field first. There was immediate justification of the decision as Daniel Bell Drummond of Kent who is said to be England’s best batsmen was dismissed without troubling the scorers in the opening over of the tournament as left arm seamer Joel Paris got one to bend back and trap him in front.Ben Foakes then followed soon after, leaving and misjudging a delivery nipping back off the seam. Davies and Craig Overton steadied proceedings before the former got a Jaffa to nick behind in the 12^th over. Anesh Kapil batted with style and positivity before chasing a wide one against 1^st change bowler Gurinder Sandhu. It was a needless shot. Ben Duckett showed intention of batting deep, while Overton was consistently beaten and played and missed outside the off stump against the impressive Australia seamers, but managed to hang in there and survive in an
unattractive manner.

Ashton Turner, the off spinner broke the partnership when Duckett chopped on before dismissing Sam Wood the very next delivery with a straighter and quicker one as the left hander was trapped plumb in front for a golden duck.

Craig Overton then chased a wide one from Sandhu to be the 7^th wicket to fall for his 35. It was a needless stroke in the circumstances with so much time left in the innings and not much batting to follow, but credit to the bowler who got the ball in the right areas consistently to create pressure and entice mistakes.

Brother Jamie Overton played attackingly before holding out in the deep with plenty of time left to give Ashton his 3^rd. Topley was trapped in front by Joel Paris for a 3^rd ball nought. The final wicket stand was beginning to frustrate before Collins miscued an attempted pull go give Sandhu his 3^rd scalp. England was all out for 143.

There was a 6.5 over session before lunch where Australia lost 3 top order wickets for 30. Left arm seamer Reece Topley and Somerset’s Jamie Overton bowled aggressively and made full use of the helpful conditions on this fast and bouncy wicket. England would have felt they were in with a sniff when Jamie Overton struck by dismissing Patterson, a highly rated batsmen, to give the visitors their 4^th wicket with Australia still having over 90 required to get home.

However, captain Bosisto showed calmness and sensibility in defence, technique, temperament and match awareness as he securely worked his way to an unbeaten 37. Travis Head on the other end was going along like a train and made full use of some ordinary English medium pace and spin who could not sustain the kind of pressure the quick’s put on the batters early doors. Head was the aggressor in the partnership and saw the hosts home with 57* from 58.

Pakistan Under-19s stroll to an easy win over their Afghanistan counterparts

Left arm pace bowler, Zia-ul-Haq helped Pakistan Under-19s secure a comfortable 109 run win over Afghanistan Under-19s in the opening game of the 2012 ICC World Cup. Zia's 4-30 was the catalyst for an easy victory as Pakistan started the conquest for a third youth World Cup win.

With a target of 254, Afghanistan always had their work cut out and soon found themselves 60-3 in 15 overs. The game always looked beyond them, but they wasn't going down without a fight against the pre-tournament favourites. A timely 50 by Hashmatullah Shaidi and a dogged 30 by Mohibullah Paak were the highlights of the innings. Afghanistan were eventually bowled out for 144 in 45.1.

Earlier in the day, put into bat, Pakistan made a solid start as captain Babar Azam (75) led from the front. Wickets around him kept falling and found themselves a mediocre 148-5 in the 37th over. Vice captain, Umer Waheed (43 not out)  and all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz's (66) solid hitting propelled Pakistan to a solid 253-6 and hence a easy win.

Other Games

Bangladesh managed to beat Sri Lanka in Group "D" by 25 runs with the skipper scoring an unbeaten century. Zimbabwe as expected beat PNG in Group "C". Tomorrow the India V West Indies encounter from Group "C" will be shown live.

Further Observations

The England V Australia contest was the biggest game of the day as it is likely to determine who finishes 1^st and 2^nd in the group and therefore should win an easier quarter final tie once the knock out round commences. Australia will top the group assuming they beat Nepal and Ireland. They are sitting in a very good position.

England’s batsmen seemed to lack thought and even a degree of common sense in their batting today. They regularly played high risk unnecessary shots, despite being up against it. Instead of curbing their instincts, absorbing the pressure, overcoming the passage of the game without further causalities and prolonging the innings duration they were guilty of throwing their wickets away and fishing at wide ones. They surely will need to be smarter in their play and shot selection in the coming games.

Australia’s seam attack was the talking point of the day. In Paris they have a bowler with speed and the ability to bring them back in to the right handed batsmen. His opening bowling partner has pace and movement and can do it both ways. His head position and action impressed Wasim Akram. He is also keen on bowling from wide of the crease from time to time. Sandhu is full of form, taking 5 wickets in the warm up and a further 3 today. Greg Chappel rates him highly both in terms of attitude and talent. His accuracy was most impressive. According to Mark Ramprakash in the Sky Sports Studio he was the pick of the bowlers. They also have a wrist spinner with the name Shane which is also handy and a finger spinner who picked up 3 wickets today. Just imagine how potent they would have been if their test match star Pat Cummins was fit to represent them. They would surely have been guaranteed favourites for a 4^thtitle.

Commentary Team

Wasim Akram

Sanjay

Pat Symcox

Danny Morrison

Ian Chappel

For those asking why Pakistan's group games are not coming live it's because they are only showing matches at the Tony Ireland Stadium.