Young guns eye World Cup final
A group of young New Zealand men tonight have the chance to do something that hasn’t been done in more than two decades.
With a win over Bangladesh in their semifinal at the ICC Under19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, they will become just the second New Zealand team to play in a decider, following in the footsteps of the class of 1998.
And with two gutsy, hardfought wins over Sri Lanka and the West Indies under their belts so far, you wouldn’t put it past them.
The team from 1998 contained eight future Black Caps – James Franklin, Peter Ingram, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Bruce Martin, Peter McGlashan, Kyle Mills and Lou Vincent.
There was also a future professional golfer in its ranks in the form of Michael Hendry – the 2017 New Zealand Open the most notable of his six pro tournament wins.
Just like this year’s tournament, the 1998 edition was played in South Africa, which perhaps might be an omen.
To make the final back then, New Zealand had to emerge triumphant from the Pollock Pool – named for former Proteas batsman Graeme Pollock – ahead of the hosts, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
There was no sudden-death contest like tonight’s semifinal – or last Wednesday’s quarterfinal for that matter.
Ten tournaments have followed – one every two years – and the country has never made it that far again, reaching the semifinals twice, in 2008 and 2012.
Hamilton Boys’ High School product Kristian Clarke has been the most notable performer this year – hitting a six when that many were required with two balls remaining against Sri Lanka, then making an unbeaten 46 off 42 balls at No 10 in the quarterfinal win over the West Indies.
He has also impressed in his primary role as one of the team’s new-ball bowlers, taking 2-36 against Sri Lanka and 4-25 against the West Indies.
New Zealand had to dig deep to win both those matches – getting home with three wickets and a ball to spare against Sri Lanka, chasing 243, and with two wickets and two balls to spare against the West Indies, chasing 239 – and they will need more of the same tonight against Bangladesh.
Giving them confidence will be the fact that they won – by seven wickets – when the two teams met in a warmup fixture on the eve of the tournament, though Bangladesh did win four of the five matches they played in New Zealand last September and October.
India have already booked their place in Sunday’s final after beating Pakistan by 10 wickets yesterday.
They beat New Zealand by 10 wickets in a rain-affected match in the group stage.