UAE face England in U-19 WC opener

DUBAI: Future stars will get a chance to show their talent, potential and prowess in a truly global event when the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2014 gets underway across the UAE on Friday, Feb.14.

On the opening day, four matches will be played with 1998 champion England taking on the UAE at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Zimbabwe facing Canada at Abu Dhabi Oval 1, New Zealand squaring off against Sri Lanka at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, and South Africa and the West Indies going head to head at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The UAE U-19 side team are now looking to ride on the high of their senior counterpart’s success. Last year, the UAE qualified for the World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 after finishing fourth in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2013.

That success was followed by the country’s qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 event as the UAE finished as the runner-up of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier New Zealand 2014.

About playing at home, UAE captain Rohit Singh said: “We are playing two matches in Sharjah and one in Abu Dhabi. We played at these venues in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup, and have re-looked at our strategies for them. Our plan is to target teams with our spinners.”

Giving an overview of Group D, the middle-order batsman said: “This is one of the tougher groups, if not the toughest.

“New Zealand is the highest seed, Sri Lanka is familiar with the conditions and while we have beaten England before, we believe they have a stronger team this time around,” he added.

On what it would mean to do well, Singh said: “It’s important for all of us in the UAE team to shine here and come into the spotlight.

“The UAE has just qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. A strong showing by a player this month might just pitchfork him into the senior national team. If that means a chance to travel to Australia and New Zealand next year, it would be an absolute dream come true.” said Singh.

Mentioning his team’s strengths and weaknesses, he said: “Our opening partnership is excellent, Pankaj Samant is bowling beautifully and Chirag Suri has been in fantastic form with the bat.

“We have to work harder on being consistent. Saving singles, rotating the strike in the middle overs, ground fielding and death bowling are areas we can improve on. One area of particular concern right now is our inability to rotate the strike against spinners,” he said.

This will be one of the 11 matches, including two quarter-finals, both the semi-finals and the final will be televised.

The tournament has provided impetus to the careers of stalwarts like Michael Atherton, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Nasser Hussain, Brian Lara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Graeme Smith as well as current stars like Ahmed Shahzad, Alastair Cook, Quinton de Kock, Shikhar Dhawan, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Angelo Mathews, Shakib Al Hasan, Steven Smith and Ross Taylor among others.

It is one of the most important and followed cricketing events in which teenagers get a taste of international experience, pressure and exposure, and also receive training and education on anti-doping and anti-corruption.

This year’s ICC U-19 World Cup carries extra significance as it is taking place a year before the World Cup 2015. As such, a lot of cricketers will be looking to excel in this tournament so that they can catch the eye of their national selectors and earn the honour of representing their countries in cricket’s biggest extravaganza which will be staged in Australia and New Zealand from Feb.14 to March 1 next year.

The 16 teams in the U-19 World Cup 2014 have been divided equally in four groups.

The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super League quarter-finals, while the two bottom teams from each group qualify for the Plate Championship quarter-finals.

India will seek to defend the U-19 World Cup title in a 16-day tournament in which 48 matches will be played.

India, who are also the holder of the World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy, have also previously won the crown under Mohammad Kaif in 2000 and Kohli in 2008, but unlike Pakistan, their opponent in Saturday’s match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, they have never won back-to-back titles.

India seems to have strong credentials in this event as only a month ago in the UAE, they won the U-19 Asia Cup when they defeated Pakistan in the final. Last year in July, they also won the Top End U-19 tri-series, which featured Australia and New Zealand, and beat Sri Lanka in August in a bilateral series as well as winning the U-19 quadrangular series, which also involved South Africa, Australia and Zimbabwe.

However, the final build-up for India have been far from ideal as they lost both their warm-up matches to Sri Lanka (by five wickets) and South Africa (five wickets).

Previewing the tournament and his side’s match against Pakistan, India captain Vijay Zol said: “We are really confident about our chances in the tournament. We have won in the past and also the recently concluded Asia Cup. So, we are carrying the momentum with us. Everybody is looking in good nick and working hard, and we are looking forward to playing in the tournament. “Pakistan is a good team. They have been doing well on the U-19 circuit, but we have managed to beat them. Recently, we beat them in the Asia Cup final that was also played here in the UAE. We are very confident about playing against them.”

Australia, who have won the title in 1988, 2002 and 2010, also lost both their warm-up matches to Zimbabwe (by three wickets) and Pakistan (by 38 runs). But, captain Alex Gregory was confident and said his boys were looking forward to the tournament.

“It’s a very special moment for all the boys. I’m sure they’ve dreamt of representing their country all their lives with the final goal of wearing a baggy green, so it will be exciting to play on an international stage and see if we can perform under pressure,” said Gregory, who is one of the 35 players along with Zol and Pakistan captain Sami Aslam to feature in their second successive U-19 World Cup.

“We have a well-balanced side of powerful hitters and skilled fast and spin bowlers, so we have the ability to perform well in this tournament. India beat us in the final of the last World Cup, so experiencing that loss has fed the hunger for this World Cup.

“To win the U-19 World Cup would be a huge achievement. Many of the boys have spoken about how much it will mean to them to win the title, however currently we are more focussed on the process to win each game than looking to the final result,” he concluded.

Apart from India and Australia, Pakistan are the other side to have won the tournament on more than one occasion.

They won in 2004 and 2006 in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, while they also finished runner-up in Australia in 1988 and in New Zealand in 2010.

Besides Sami, opener Inam-ul-Haq, left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar and left-arm fast bowler Zia ul Haq will also be appearing in their second World Cup.