Interesting Day For Stuart Law

Firstly I would like to clarify that the Australia vs.Bangladesh quarter final will not be shown live. I was mistaken and the England vs. South Africa game from the Tony Ireland stadium will as always be the televised fixture.

However, the Australia vs. Bangladesh game is a unique occasion for Coach Stuart Law. He has just recently quit as Bangladesh coach and has followed and worked with their young players. Now he is coaching the Australians for this World Cup. In a way you could say it’s a win/win situation for him either way.

Australia is favourites, but Bangladesh is one of the better U19 sides around and they have pulled above their weight in the tournament, eliminating the 2010 semi-finalists in Sri Lanka.

South Africa vs. England should be a close fought game. South Africa are undefeated in the tournament, but England will be hoping to win this knock out game and progress to the final 4 which they didn’t manage in 2010 under Azeem Rafiq. Reece Topley who is one of the leading wicket takers in the tournament will be a key player and his battle with the tournament leading run scorer, De Kock who is an attacking left handed opener should be interesting viewing.

England batsmen showed a reluctance to use their feet to the slower bowlers in the previous match and were rather plodding forward. Ian Chappel considered it as a lazy way of playing. Chappel also mentioned how other teams would have taken plenty of notice about this and bowled more overs of spin against England who played the spinners with limited fluency and confidence.

Ben Foakes who made a 90 odd in the match against Nepal looks a dangerous batsman. Once he battled through the initial patches and played himself in, he kicked on and accelerated with some clean ball striking. Ben Duckett, the number 6 left handed batsmen, batted with innovation and inventiveness in his half century. It was a fine exhibition of modern day shots. He was expressive and unconventional. Alex Davies who opens the batting and made a 40 against Nepal looks sound at the top and favours the cut shot. He plays orthodox shots and relies on timing and balance. Daniel Bell Drummond who was highly rated looked nervous and scratchy at the crease. He was struggling to tick over the scoreboard and wasn’t able to overcome the pressure he had inserted on himself. He departed after blocking out 5 deliveries before playing a village green slog which was easily taken. In both live matches England has played, the highly regarded batsman has been far from his best.

Sanjay is no longer commentating at the U19 CWC. He is heading back to Mumbai to cover the India vs. New Zealand test series.