Thursday, 28 February 2008

U-19 World Cup

The New Zealand U-19 team might just have been eliminated by India in the junior World Cup - but the side will come home with a fair amount of pride. And the player with the most pride will probably be Tim Southee. After doing well for the full Twenty20 side against England, he went to Malaysia and created havoc. He has taken more wickets than any other player at the tournament (17, second place only has 14) and took them at the remarkable average of 6.64 and with an economy rate of 2.52. Even before taking 4-29 in New Zealand's last match Southee was leading the player of the tournament charts by a mile.

Another New Zealander who did well in the tournament was Southee's partner with the new ball, Trent Boult. Boult took 11 wickets at 10.90, with a remarkable haul of 7-20 against Zimbabwe (the best figures of the tournament).

Where New Zealand failed to impress was in its batting. A quick look at the averages shows all-rounder Corey Anderson led the way, while the only top-order player to average over 30 was Kane Williamson (124 runs at 31). Unfortunately the next Martin Crowe or Stephen Fleming still seem to be some distance away.

1 comment:

Ben said...

Good showing by the little nippers. Seems like we can look forward to another generation of World Cup semi-finals.