Australia’s Tom Straker throws out the final warning for the U-19 World Cup. The U-19 World Cup final will be held on Sunday, February 11, at the Sahara Park Willowmoore Cricket Stadium in Benoni.
Tom Straker, Australia’s right-arm pacer, has issued a modest warning to India ahead of the 2024 ICC U-19 World Cup final. Which is set to take place on Sunday, February 11, at the Sahara Park Willowmoore Cricket Stadium in Benoni.
Straker claimed that Australia came to win the title with the exhilaration of reaching their first Under-19 World Cup final in six years
Notably, he was named Player of the Match in their semifinal victory over Pakistan by one wicket, taking six wickets for 24 runs.
“Everyone still really thrill. Then we were like, “We’ve had our fun, but it has to end now.” We still have a Grand Final to win. We had a quick talk about it and just stated, ‘We didn’t come here to win the semi-final, we came here to win the final,'” Straker told cricket.com.au.
“We had a TV in our viewing area and the commentators were talking about it, all the boys were loving it, but I was like ‘it’s a good to record to have’ but I wasn’t too fussed about i. It’s a pretty proud moment, but in the scheme of things it doesn’t really matter,” he added.
The 18-year-old’s phenomenal bowling performance almost changed into anguish. When he and Mahli Beardman were remove within the space of four balls. It was Callum Vidler and Raf MacMillan who were the final pair to win with 16 runs. He praised Vidler’s batting, stating it’s not bad for a No. 11, and added that they had faith they could cross the line.
“We’re all just looking at each other and saying, ‘Oh no.’ But Vidler’s batting is not the worst for a No.11. So we had hope, and Raf has batted well for us; he has rescued the day before, so we were optimistic. “We hit the winning runs, and everyone just erupted,” he explained.
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Staker believes Australia’s bowling assault is promising and will do the same against India
“We have a rather good bowling attack. We’ve scared a couple teams this tournament, and we intend to do the same with India in the final. The pitch here is also slightly bumpy. As you can see from the tournament, we use our bouncers a lot, so it will be part of our game plan. “All the boys here, especially Mahli and Vidler, love a bumper … we’re Australian fast bowlers, so I’m sure there will be plenty of those,” the 18-year-old added.
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