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Sunday, January 14, 2018

Mount Maunganui ~ Sangha, Austin, Sutherland, Prithvi Shaw and more .... !!

Jason Jaskirat Singh Sangha ~ heard ? – does it sound something to you – he is the Aussie Captain, in case you don’t know !!!

Watching the match – right handed Prithvi Shaw and Manjot Kalra played so well, but missed out when century was well in the offing as the camera zoomed on a familiar face of Steve Waugh and his wife .. at Mount Maunganui,  a holiday paradise – know for  surfing, swimming and relaxing. 

Mount Maunganui of Tauranga, located on a peninsula to the north-east of Tauranga's city centre. It was an independent town from Tauranga until the completion of the Tauranga Harbour Bridge in 1988, which connects Mount Maunganui to Tauranga's central business district.  Located across the harbour from Tauranga, “the Mount” is almost surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, with New Zealand’s best beach on one side of its peninsula, and the sheltered waters of Pilot Bay on the other. Standing 232m above sea level, this iconic landmark is treasured by Maori and it is here that the U19 World Cup match between India and Australia is happening. 

It is the 7th match, Group B (D/N), ICC Under-19 World Cup at Mount Maunganui, Jan 14 2018 – India won the toss and is batting – and batting well too.

The inaugural event was titled the McDonald's Bicentennial Youth World Cup, and was held in 1988 as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations. It took place in South Australia and Victoria. Teams from the seven Test-playing nations, as well as an ICC Associates XI, competed in a round-robin format. The tournament was notable for the number of future international players who competed. Future England captains Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton played, as did Indian spinner Venkatapathy Raju, New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns, Pakistanis Mushtaq Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya, and West Indians Brian Lara, Ridley Jacobs, and Jimmy Adams.

ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup is an international cricket tournament organised by the ICC contested by national under-19 teams. First contested in 1988, as the Youth World Cup, it was not staged again until 1998. Since then, the World Cup has been held as a biennial event, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The first edition of the tournament had only eight participants, but every subsequent edition has included sixteen teams. Australia and India have both won the World Cup three times, and India has been in the finals twice more. It won in 2000, 2008 & 2012, losing in finals in 2006 & 2016.

The 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup is currently being held in New Zealand from 13 January to 3 February 2018. It is the twelfth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in New Zealand.  West Indies are the defending champions.

In one surprise result, Afghanistan Under-19 194 for 5 (Rasooli 76*, Khil 46) beat Pakistan U-19 - 188 (Nazir 81, Omarzai 3-34, Ahmad 3-38) by five wickets.  Darwish Rasooli struck an unbeaten 78-ball 76 to lead Afghanistan to victory in their opening match of the Under-19 World Cup, beating Pakistan by five wickets. Chasing 189, Afghanistan were reduced to 50 for 3, before Rasooli, in the company of wicketkeeper Ikram Ali Khil, staved off Pakistan's challenge.

Australia's squad for the Under-19 World Cup is  by batsman Jason Sangha, and include allrounder Austin Waugh - son of former captain Steve Waugh. Another allrounder, Will Sutherland, son of Cricket Australia's (CA) chief executive James Sutherland, is named vice-captain.  Sangha had become the youngest Australian to make a first-class century against England, scoring 133 for the CA XI in a tour game in Townsville in the lead up to the Ashes. In July last, Sutherland, a powerful batsman and fast-medium bowler, had chosen cricket over football, accepting a multi-year rookie deal with Victoria rather than nominating himself for the AFL draft.

Sangha has already led Australia Under-19s in a bilateral series against Sri Lanka at home in April. He made news in November when he became the youngest first-class centurion in the country since Ricky Ponting in 1992-93. It was a pre-Ashes warm-up fixture and Sangha was facing an attack that included Chris Woakes, Craig Overton and Moeen Ali. He held firm to bring up a superb century, one he says gave him oodles of belief.  So much, excitement," he says. "Indian roots. How could I not be mad about cricket?"

Rahul Dravid is the coach for the Indian U 19 team.  Lot of interesting things in store for the cricket fan.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

14th Jan 2018.

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