U19 World Cup state of play: After the group stage, who is in the mix for the tournament title?

Super League and Plate League playoff action kicks off in South Africa this week as the game's future stars fight it out for World Cup glory

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Who's in contention

India entered this year's tournament looking to become only the second country after Pakistan in 2004 and 2006 to win back-to-back Under-19 World Cup titles, and Priyam Garg's young charges got off to a flawless start in Group A as one of just two sides in the competition to win all three of their pool fixtures.

Each outing presented a different test for the side, which features five players already set to feature in the upcoming IPL. Half-centuries for Garg, Dhruv Chand Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal saw the side reach and comfortably defend 297 against Sri Lanka; Ravi Bishnoi (4-5) and Kartik Tyagi (3-10) saw off Japan for a tournament low of 41, which was chased down inside five overs; and unbeaten fifties from openers Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena before rain cut their group decider with New Zealand to a 23-over thrash were more than enough as the spin of Bishnoi and Atharva Ankolekar shared seven wickets as the Blackcaps were rolled 44 short of their adjusted target.

New Zealand nevertheless secured qualification after 80 from Beckham Wheeler-Greenall kept a steep chase of 243 alive against Sri Lanka mid-week before No.9 Kristian Clarke struck a winning six off the penultimate ball. Lingering hopes of a similarly entertaining end to Group C between the unbeaten Pakistan and Bangladesh were scuppered by rain – the match became one of seven fixtures either cut short or abandoned completely due to inclement weather.

Perhaps the surprise package of the tournament has been the West Indies, who endured a miserable run of form with the bat last month when hosting a warm-up tri-series with England and Sri Lanka in Antigua but ultimately cruised through Group B with a perfect record. Barbadian allrounder Nyeem Young was the team's star performer, with a nerveless 61 against Australia steadying a chase of 180 set up by impressive seamers before toppling England two days later with a rapid 66 and five wickets of his own to tear out the middle-order.

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Nyeem Young fired the West Indies to surprise Group B glory

The results sent Australia into a must-win fixture with old enemies England in Kimberley, and things were looking good for England when Ben Charlesworth (82) and Dan Mousley (51 not out) set the three-time champions and 2018 finalists a record target of 253. Spin twins Lewis Goldsworthy and Hamidullah Qadri appeared to have the job done after splitting four wickets for 19 runs to get into the Australian tail with 15 overs to play, but seamer Connor Sully slammed four successive boundaries from the bowling of Blake Cullen to turn a challenge of 40 from 16 balls into a remarkable last-ball two-wicket victory.

South Africa were the final side to secure their spot, taking a 23-run win over the United Arab Emirates on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method to close out the group stage. Combined with a high-scoring win over Canada three days prior, in which skipper Bryce Parsons hit a tournament-leading 121 from 91 deliveries, progression marked a swift turnaround for the host nation.

They had previously limped to 129 all out in the opening match of the tournament, coming unstuck against apparently unpickable wrist-spin variations from Afghanistan's impressive young duo of Shafiqullah Ghafari (6-15) and Noor Ahmad (2-44). Ghafari then secured the side's qualification with five more victims next time out – he is the first player in the tournament's 32-year history to record five-fors in back-to-back games – though a total washout of their closing fixture against Canada prevented the side from completing a Group D clean sweep.

Who's missing out

With only eight quarter-final spots available the tournament was bound to throw up some early shocks, but few might have expected England and Sri Lanka to fall out of the race so soon. Having enjoyed healthy competition last month during a tri-series in Antigua, where England topped the round-robin stage and won two of three meetings before Sri Lanka emerged 77-run victors in the final powered by a century from opener Navod Paranavithana.

But both sides fell to remarkably similar fates in their opening group encounters, coming off a distant second in first game chases (against West Indies and India respectively) before somehow losing final-over thrillers to fearless tail-enders (Australia and New Zealand) and putting up consolation wins on Saturday against fresh-faced teams playing in their country's first ever Cricket World Cups (Nigeria and Japan).

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Sri Lanka and England failed to progress from their groups after opening with two defeats each

With a 47-run European qualifier defeat to Scotland having made Ireland the only one of the ICC's 12 Full Member nations not represented in South Africa, at least a third Test nation was destined to crash out early on. A string of one-sided affairs in Group C ended up with Zimbabwe joining England and Sri Lanka in the plate league – though, like both, they rounded out their group stage campaign with a dominant dead rubber display on Saturday, reaching Scotland's target of 141 with 149 balls to spare after a 55-bal 85 from Tadiwanashe Marumani. 

The big news heading into the tournament was the arrival of two new nations on the World Cup stage, with Nigeria and Japan debuting as champions of the Africa and East Asia Pacific regional qualifiers respectively. However, neither have yet managed to string together an upset on the pitch 

What happens next

All 16 teams at the tournament continue to the knockout stages, however only eight teams – the top two finishers in each of the four groups – will feature in the Super League process that gives us our two teams for the final in Potchefstroom on February 9.

India and Australia meet up for a rematch of the 2018 final to open the Super League quarter-finals at the JB Marks Oval on Tuesday, with a game a day until Afghanistan and Pakistan head to Benoni on Friday for their first meeting at Under-19 level since their bronze medal match in 2018 fell victim to New Zealand's weather. Each main Super League fixture will have a full live broadcast from the ICC available to local rights holders, including Sky Sports (UK), SuperSport (South Africa) and Star Sports (India).

The eight sides who did not manage to secure Super League spots will instead compete in the Plate League, which follows a similar structure to its more prestigious siblings as the teams involved fight for a final and the chance of finishing ninth overall.

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India and Afghanistan have looked formidable contenders through the group stage fixtures

England and Sri Lanka opened their Plate campaigns today with straightforward wins over Japan and Nigeria respectively, ensuring they advance to meet in a Plate semi-final in Kimberley on Friday.

Regardless of results, every side in South Africa will play a total of three fixtures in the competition's second and final phase, as losing sides after each round play off against each other to ultimately complete an eight-game lineup of placement matches to rank every team through from one to 16 by the tournament's end.

Today's losses for Japan and Nigeria, for example, see them move on to face a Plate playoff semi-final, where the winner will meet the victor of the other one of those losing quarter-finalists' fixtures for a shot at 13th in the final standings.

UNDER-19 CRICKET WORLD CUP FIXTURES 2020: Full ICC U19 World Cup schedule

 

 

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