For the first time in 24 years, England Under-19’s has reached the World Cup Final, and will contest Sunday’s showpiece against overwhelming favourites India.
England edged their way past a brave Afghanistan team in the semi-finals, winning by 15 runs, whilst India were always in command in their match against Australia, the winning margin 96 runs.
England last made the final of the Under-19 edition of the World Cup back in 1998, where the team lead by captain Owais Shah beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the final.
England are vying to be the first team in history to hold all three One Day World Cups, having been victorious at home in both the 2017 Women’s World Cup – beating India, and the 2019 Men’s edition.
India Under 19 on the other hand have reached the Finals for the fourth time in a row. They had lost to Bangladesh U19 in the final two years ago and will be trying to go one step further in this tournament.
So, as underdogs, who will England be looking towards to help them gain the most unlikely of wins, to capture the trio of ODI World Cups?
Captain Fantastic
England captain Tom Prest has been a stand out for is country in the tournament, currently top scoring with 292 runs from his five innings. His 73 average is helped by an excellent knock of 154* against the UAE, which followed up his 93 against Canada.
He is a useful off-break bowler, picking up five wickets throughout the tournament, with 3/38 against Canada. Having only scored 24 and 17 in his last two matches, Prest will know a captains innings is needed if England are to have any chance of victory.
Star Boy
Jacob Bethell is the real star of this England side. A super human at his age, Bethell is an exciting and brilliant opening batsman, and is a more than reliable bowler, mostly maxing out his overs during matches.
The quarter-final victory against South Africa showed an unapologetically aggressive, yet flamboyant display of modern day opening. Hitting his top score in the tournament of 88 from only 42 balls, he smashed his second half-century in the World Cup in just 50 balls.
Bethell was key to the semi-final victory with the ball. This 10 overs only going for 26 runs, suffocating the Afghanistan team that only needed 232 runs to secure their place in the final. He has picked up 5 wickets at an economy of only 4.00.
His list A debut ended with him taking four wickets for Warwickshire against Derbyshire in 2021, and he is already gathering a star studded line up of fans.
Bowling Attack
The character that Rehan Ahmed showed in the penultimate over of the semi-final at the Sir Viv Richards stadium in Antigua is something everyone can be inspired by. Having been hit for over seven runs an over from his first four overs, the nerves would have been rattling for the 17-year-old leggy.
Afghanistan needed 18 from the final over, Ahmed took as many wickets as the losing side scored runs. First dismissing the dangerous Noor Ahmad (who plays in the BBL) for 25, then Izharulhaq Naveed and Bilal Sami for ducks.
Earlier, Ahmed bamboozled Ijaz Amadzai bowling him with a googley that current England bowler Adil Rashid would have been proud of.
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The final starts at 13:00 GMT at the Sir Vivian Richards Ground in Antigua.
