The standard of play throughout the tournament was excellent, and the idea to play so many differing "tiered" games was great to give the boys games at that level, although it did distort the stats somewhat. My other fear is the gap between the Test teams and the associate nations underage teams was vast. If you look at England, the majority of players have played first class games, and all have played second XI cricket, whereas associate teams like Ireland and Afghanistan are struggling to compete due to a lack of exposure.
Is the wider gap at that age down to lack of cricketing experience or is the gap widening between associate and Test? My case study would be Ireland and England. In senior games, games have generally been tight in recent years, Ireland causing a few upsets, but over 50 overs you would not say the gap was massive, there and noticeable, but not a million miles away.
Compare that to the game in this world cup. Ireland have two county contracted players, Dockrell who is excellent at any standard, 59 FC wickets and 63 in internationals, and Graeme McCarter, who is starting out with Gloustershire. Ireland were simply blown away by a vastly superior team who were in a different class. And they only finished 5th!
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Topic: ICC U/19 world cup Aus v Eng (Read 2979 times)