ICC UNDER 19 CRICKET WORLD CUP 2020
WARM-UP GAME 2
NEW ZEALAND U19 v BANGLADESH U19
St John's College, Johannesburg, South Africa
15 January 2020
Toss: NZ
New Zealand Under 19 made a brilliant start with the ball in their final official warm-up ahead of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, after sending in Bangladesh Under 19 on St John's Rice Field.
After New Zealand Under 19 captain Jesse Tashkoff won the toss at Johannesburg's St John’s College, allrounder Joey Field made a stunning early impact with the ball — putting himself on an unconverted hat-trick in the very first over of the game.
Despite a false start that produced seven wides off his first two balls, Field found his rhythm and struck with his third and fourth legitimate deliveries, Tanzid Hasan and Mahmudal Hasan both caught behind.
The tall Hawke’s Bay paceman suddenly had Bangladesh 9/2 — and it was about to get worse for the side that swept aside NZ U19 in their recent series in Lincoln.
Next over, fellow NZ right-armer William O’Rourke claimed a wicket with just his fifth ball of the morning, Prantik Nawrose Nabil bowled to have Bangladesh three down for no further addition to the scorebook.
The Joey Field-Ben Pomare combination then registered its third appearance in the card in just the third over as they removed number four batsman Shahadat Hossain for a five-ball duck at 11/4.
Vice-captain Tawhid Hridoy and Parvez Hossain Emon found themselves in the middle under real pressure early doors and, while they each managed to find the boundary to ease their nerves, Field was hungry for more and struck yet again in the seventh over to take himself to 4-16, and Bangladesh 23/5, during his first spell.
Emon had been caught by Beckham Wheeler-Greenall and Field would complete the five-over spell sitting on 4-24 after captain Akbar Ali had joined Hridoy urgently looking for traction.
The new pair attempted to play positively with a 57-stand for the sixth wicket as spin entered the attack, but leg-spinner Adithya Ashok had Hridoy (36 off 46) caught off his fourth over by his skipper Tashkoff to have Bangladesh in further strife at 80/6 in just the 18th.
Ali now had an even bigger weight on his shoulders as Field re-entered the attack in the 19th over, on the hunt for a bag.
As it turned out, it was Ashok who bagged the captain's wicket, NZ U19 elated to have Bangladesh seven down in the 22nd over and the lower order exposed.
Ashok (3-35 off nine), Wheeler-Greenall (1-4) and Tashkoff (1-0 off a perfect two overs) then joined forces to wrap up the tail, dismissing Bangladesh for 112 in 29 overs.
Chasing the low total, NZ U19 didn't have it all their own way with the bat.
Rhys Mariu's 32 off the first 15 overs got them on their way despite the loss of early wickets, but Bangladesh had New Zealand 50/3 at Mariu's departure, and kept themselves in the game with regular wickets.
Batting at five, Jesse Tashkoff then entered the fray with 62 further runs required for victory, and he contributed an unbeaten captain's knock of 41* off 42 balls to stay in control, despite losing three partners in the space of five overs.
Tanzid Hasan (3-30) struck twice in the 20th, a double wicket maiden as he dispensed with both Simon Keene and Ben Pomare to have New Zealand 63 for six, with 50 still needed.
However, Tashkoff and Quinn Sunde (19* off 27) paired up for the remainder of the chase to see the NZ U19s through to an ultimately comfortable four-wicket win with their unbroken 52-run stand, the skipper hitting the winning boundary with more than 20 overs to spare.
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New Zealand U19 now prepares for its first Cricket World Cup Group match in Potchefstroom in two days' time, which will see first-round opponent Japan Under 19 making its debut at ICC global event level.
Defending Under-19 world champion India is grouped alongside New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Japan in the league phase, NZU19 and Japan to play their first game at the North West University Oval this Saturday 18 January.
See New Zealand U19's World Cup schedule in NZ time here
