Debacle turns to smiles as Under-19's win

Following our debacle in Auckland about a week ago, when we lost to India, it was a nerve racking wait for our game against Canada two days later to try and qualify for the next round of the World Cup.

Canada had suddenly started playing well and managed to tie against Bangladesh earlier in the week. We were also wary of the fact that the game may be rained out again and that would have been catastrophic for us at this stage of the competition.

The players called a team meeting the night before the game to discuss why things had gone so wrong for us against India. A consensus was reached that we had not played to our full potential at all and that we were far better than the result against India suggested. With a strengthened resolve to rectify our previous errors we oozed confidence when we stepped onto the field the next day.

Our frontline bowlers were outstanding and we managed to knock the Canadians out for 41 runs midway through their allotted overs. Once again Ryan Bailey was phenomenal with three wickets for five runs off only three overs. Brendon Reddy and Ryan Mclaren also contributed handsomely with their economical bowling figures.

Our openers, Stephen Cook and Chad Baxter scored the winnning runs in about the eighth over. it was a welcome relief to know that we had qualified for the next stage of the competition. In fact it turned out to be a lot easier than we expected.

Since the game finished early, most of the team decided to go into town and relax. We then traveled back to Christchurch to join the other teams for the super-league stage of the tournament. As we had lost to India, we came second in our preliminary group and therefore joined the Australians, New Zealanders and the English in the second round group. The other group included the teams from the sub continent, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and the 4th team the West Indies.

We knew this was always going to be a tough group and that we would have to beat some of the better teams if we were to advance to the semis of the competition.

Our first game two days later was against the Australians. We had a disasterous start and were two wickets down for three runs after four overs. Things did not get any better when our captain Hashim Amla soon went out for 17. A spirited fightback by Stepehn Cook and Riel de Kok brought us back into the game until Stephen was run out from a direct hit. The balance of the game swayed to and fro and we were accelerating steadily with Ryan Bailey and Ryan Mclaren at the wicket. Another direct hit was responsible for Ryan Bailey losing his wicket at a crucial stage. A late attempt at resurrecting our innings was made when our number 11 batsmen, Brendon Reddy came in at number 9 and smashed 27 runs off 13 balls. We ended on 236 after 50 overs and thought we were in with a chance to give the Australians a run for their money.

Our bowlers toiled away, but crucial errors in judgement were responsible for us conceding a few very expensive overs and soon the opponents were controlling the run chase. They managed to pass our total with two overs spare. This was very dispiriting for the players and we did not enjoy our supper that evening.

Nevertheless, today the sun was up and we trained well and prepared ourselves for the important match against the New Zealanders tomorrow. We know we have to play really well if we are to beat the hosts in their own backyard and stand a chance of qualifying for the semi's.

Our final group game on Friday, 1 February against the English together with tomorrow's result will determine our fate in the competition. With this in mind, the players have all been meticulous with their last minute preparations and no doubt an early night will be had by all. The tournament is now becoming more competitive and the stronger teams are starting to reveal themselves.

We hope we can be part of it.

Shane Jabaar (fizzer)