The first semi-final of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup will feature a high-flying England locking horns with underdogs Afghanistan on Tuesday at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium in Antigua. England are one of the two unbeaten teams (India being the other) in this tournament. Afghanistan, on the other hand, stunned Sri Lanka in the quarter-final.
The England colts have been quite ruthless in their four outings. In the quarter-final against South Africa, they chased down 210 in just 31.2 overs, perhaps an demonstrating influence of their senior team's batting approach.
Captain Tom Prest has led them from the front with 275 runs in four innings with an average of 91.67. Their top-three run getters – Prest, William Luxton, Jacob Bethell – have strike rates over 100. Left-arm fast bowler Joshua Boyden, their spearhead, has 12 wickets in this World Cup. Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, too, has impressed with his ability to turn the ball both ways.
However, the only area in which England can fumble, is their batter's lack of exposure against quality spin.
'Facing spin has been a challenge for a lot of us. We went to Sri Lanka pre-Christmas, so we've done a lot of work on it, using our feet and playing different shots and sweeps. We know Afghanistan have a few good spinners, so we've been preparing as well as we can,' Prest confessed in the pre-match press conference.
Spin, on the other hand, is Afghanistan's strength. Nine out of their 19 squad members can bowl spin.
The premier wrist-spin duo of Noor Ahmad (left arm), playing his second Under-19 World Cup, and Izharulhaq Naveed (right arm) have shared 15 wickets in four matches. Along with them, there is left-arm orthodox Nangeyalia Kharote, who has also chipped in with seven scalps in this World Cup. That guarantees a minimum of 30 overs of quality spin.
'We have a good bowling attack and our spin is very strong, If we get a good total on the board, we feel we can defend it,' said captan Sulaiman Safi in his pre-match press conference.
However, the Afghan batters need to pull up their socks here. They have so far been underwhelming in this tournament, especially against fast bowlers. And England have plenty of them. If they can get some runs, their spinners will come into play and push this in-form English team.
Likely XIs
England Under 19s: George Thomas, Jacob Bethell, Tom Prest (c), James Rew, William Luxton, George Bell, Rehan Ahmed, Alex Horton (wk), Thomas Aspinwall, James Sales, Joshua Boyden
Afghanistan Under 19s: Bilal Sayedi, Nangeyalia Kharote, Allah Noor, Sulaiman Safi (c), Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai, Abdul Hadi, Mohammad Ishaq (wk), Noor Ahmad, Izharulhaq Naveed, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran
Fantasy tips
- Pick a bowling-heavy team with Afghan spinners and English pacers.
- Do have the in-form England batters like Bethell, Prest and Luxton in your fantasy XI.
- When it comes to picking all-rounders, try to go for batters who can bowl some spin.