Tournament hosts West Indies picked up their first win with a demolition of Scotland at the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. A ruthless bowling performance left the home side requiring just 96 to win, and they knocked off the target with ease.
Elsewhere there were some stunning individual performances as Sri Lanka beat Australia and Pakistan overpowered Zimbabwe. Here are the big talking points from day four of the World Cup. West Indies opening bowler Shiva Sankar found swing right from the off, so much so that his opening delivery hooped away for a big wide. But he soon managed to get that movement under control, and caused Scotland all sorts of problems, dismissing three of the top four to finish with figures of 3/17 off seven.
Two of those wickets came in consecutive balls, with an inswinger trapping Samuel Elstone plumb in-front before Thomas Mackintosh edged an outswinger to the slips for a golden duck. Sankar in this sort of form will trouble the very best at the tournament.
West Indies were excellent with the ball, but the fielding effort more than backed them up, with Teddy Bishop particularly outstanding.
The 18-year-old from Grenada produced two excellent slip catches, one cleverly juggled on the stretch and the other a very sharp take low to his right, underlining his side’s quality in the field.
And it wasn’t just Bishop who excelled in the field. Sankar followed up his three-wicket haul with a peach of a run-out to bring the Scotland innings to an end too, hitting the stumps from the deep after Oliver Davidson was sent back going for a risky second.
Scotland can take heart from their performance with the ball, but defending a total of 95 against a batting order as talented as the hosts’ was always going to be a tough ask and proved too much.
Looking to the future, Jack Jarvis backed up his good display with the ball in the first match with another steady spell, finishing with 1/19 off five. And although Oliver Davidson was expensive again, he did extract some dangerous turn and bounce from the surface in his 1/19 from four. Charlie Peet’s peach of a ball to clean bowl Shaqkere Parris will give the left-arm spinner something to remember from the tournament too.
