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Opening win by the young Aussies v WI overnight in U/19 WC. Two great efforts by the WA boys Teague Wyllie - 86 not out and skipper Cooper Connelly 3/17 and 23. These two boys come with big wraps, can see them getting some senior WA exposure sooner rather then later. The young Aussie ambidextrous spinner Radhakrishnan also took 3/48 and hit 31 in the Aussie run chase of 170.....always easy to get ahead of oneself with these youngsters, especially at this level, but all three seem to be tracking in the right direction development wise.

Obviously India's youngsters will be faves to go deep in this tournament, be interesting to see who comes out of their squad this year and breaks into their senior squad in the near future.

Connolly & Wyllie are very promising young WA cricketers Freeze but might be a year away from making their first class debuts although with the Test team touring Pakistan and ODI/T20 tournaments coming up all at the same time spots might just open up.

Our state squad at present is-
Agar
Bancroft
Behrendorff
Cartwright
Connolly
Fanning
Gannon
Green
Guthrie
Hardie
Inglis
Jackson
Kelly
M.Marsh
S.Marsh
Moody
Morris
Paris
Phillipe
Richardson
Rocchiccioli
Short
Stoinis
Turner
Whiteman

And considering ex West Aussies plying their trade elsewhere- Carder (SA), Bosisto (SA), Harris (VIC), Mackin (VIC), David (TAS), Hope (TAS) etc it still makes me shake my head how we have not won the Sheffield Shield since 1998/99!?!?!?!?!
 

Hopefully young Jayden Goodwin is persisted with as well BH, the likes of Stoinis, Turner, Short, Bancroft and Whiteman have all had their moments in the Sheffield shield sun.....perhaps time to say thanks but no thanks at the shield level......but I guess depth is needed and experience is always handy to have within the squad.....some hard decisions will need to be made though, because the last thing I would like to see is the likes of good youngsters like Wyllie, Connolly, Goodwin and Rocchiccioli moving interstate for greater opportunities because Stoinis, Short, Turner, Bancroft and Whiteman keep getting spots with hit and miss performances, like they have done over the years.....

Aust chances for progression rely on SL beating the WI.....obviously the Aussie batting genetics seem to get passed down from generation to generation in terms of playing spin.....SL spinners weave their magic in SL win over Aust....the SL skipper taking a 5 for and  scoring 50 odd with bat.

Aust defeat Scotland in their final group match....Though allowing Scotland to get to 230 odd was a tad disappointing, considering WI bowled Scotland out for 90 odd.....but hey kudos to the Scottish batsmen for making the most of some drop catches and making the score they did......Aust secured the win by 7 wickets with 10 overs to spare.....WA youngster Teague Wyllie scoring an unbeaten 101 to guide Aust to victory.

Even if Aust do get through can see the likes of India, Pakistan and SL spinners making life difficult for Australia in the next stage matches.....watched a few matches so far.....more spinners then fast/fast medium bowlers.....anyone see the Scottish captain bowling his spinners?.....literally has the longest front foot stride I have ever seen....practically releasing the ball at knee height.....bowled well though, I guess as a batsman his bowling style would be quite off putting.....

Yeah I have been watching a fair bit of it too Freeze (like most U/19 World Cups going back more than a decade) and was quite impressed with Scotland and moreso another minnow in Canada the other night. They had a fair few of their side made up of Indian names so obviously raised on our great Summer sport.

Aust through to the semi's.....though tough opponents in India await them.
Good to see WA youngster Teague Wyllie continue his strong vein of run scoring form. 1 x 100 & 2 x 50's from four innings is good going. Good luck to the Aussie youngsters.

Not sure if you have seen much of any of the other games outside of AUS Freeze but South Africa have a few decent types coming-

Dewald Brevis is a complete clone of AB DeVilliers and hits it as hard and far as the great batsman
Kwena Maphaka is only 15 but is a left arm quick who swings it late

The Poms & Indians also have a few worth watching, the Poms actually knocked SA out of the comp!

Also good to see lesser light countries in Bangladesh (reigning champs) & Afghanistan going well into the finals again as well which hopefully augers well for their development as cricket nations long into the future!

Totally agree BH....Brevis in particular looks a talent.....as does the SL captain Wellalage,  who has scored some good runs and taken some handy wickets throughout the series.....India will always produce a few gooduns, as their depth is 2nd to none due to a large population playing base.....ditto the English too.

Tough ask for the Aussies to get over India in the semi, but hey you never know....pretty sure Eng will beat Afghanistan and make the WC final....

Sadly the Aussie youngsters got taken to the cleaners by the Indian youngsters.....Aust bowlers started brightly with 2 quick wickets in the first 12 overs, but then lost their way after the 20th over, due to an excellent 2nd innings partnership of 200 odd over 30 odd overs. Then to rub more salt in the wound,  the Aussies got smashed for 27 in India's final over, boosting their final score to 290.

Sadly this was a bridge too far for the Aussie batting line up, bowled out for 194....by you guessed it, the Indian spinners! WA boys Wyllie and Connolly contributed only a handful of runs between them, with Aust gun batter Wyllie getting pinged lbw in the 2nd over. From then on a couple of 30s from Kellaway and Miller and a lone 50 from Shaw batting at 5, saw Australia loss by 90 odd runs in the end.....

Disappointing end to the Aust WC, but one last game  for 3rd place v the Afghanistan youngsters.  Should be a cracking contest between India and England in the final though.....both free flowing teams bursting with talent.

What a thrilling climax to that Aust v Afghanistan 3rd/4th play off. Australia sneaking home by 2 wickets in the last over chasing 201. Good to see the Aussie youngsters hold their nerve, especially after being 1/110 before the 30th over and 5/195 in the 45th over. But some monumental brain implosions by the Aussie batters nearly gifted the Afghanistan youngsters the win.

Never seen so many run outs across one competition by all teams. Radhakrishnan showed his potential with his ambidextrous spinners taking 3/30 odd and compiling a controlled knock of 66, to help guide Australia into a winning position, before charging down the wicket needlessly with 30 odd runs from victory and getting stumped.

The two WA boys Wyllie and Connolly had low par games, both bamboozled by the talented Afghan spinners and getting bowled for 13 and 0 respectively. Though Connolly took two wickets with his left arm finger spin. Wyllie had a great tournament finishing up as Aust leading run scorer at the healthy average of 60+. Connolly less productive with bat and ball, actually struggled with both, but captained the team with aplomb, especially since the squad only met once before the tournament started due to COVID.
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