- Thursday, February 27, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
AUSTRALIA Under-19 captain Cooper Connolly backed his side’s batting prodigy Teague Wyllie to fire in the second semi-final of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup final at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua and Barbuda on Wednesday (2).
The winner of the match will meet England, who beat Afghanistan in a closely fought rain-curtailed first semi-final at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on Tuesday (1), in the final at the same ground on Saturday (5).
Connolly said he believes his team has the ability to make the final, particularly if Wyllie maintains his red-hot form towards the business end of the competition. The 17-year-old right-hand opening batter smashed 71 off 97 balls in the quarter-final against Pakistan to help his team win by 119 runs.
Wyllie has already gathered 264 runs in four games in the tournament and is the fourth-highest run-getter so far.
“I said at the start of the tournament that he (Teague Wyllie) was going to be a big run-scorer for us. I backed him as a Western Australia man, I’ve seen him progress all the way from playing as a junior. He is a really talented guy,” Connolly said in an official release.
“There is no reason why he can’t continue to do that and I think he can play a big role for us in these last couple of matches,” he added.
Connolly, an all-rounder, said India are the toughest opponent in the tournament but that will not stop his side from playing positively.
“To reach the final would be pretty cool. I spoke to Mitch Marsh briefly about it, because he won the last one for Australia (in 2010). I’d love to be able to get to that spot and do the same as him,” he said.
Australia received a nine-wicket hammering from India in a warm-up game ahead of the tournament but India captain Yash Dhull said that win will not have any “substantial impact” in the high-voltage semi-final match.
“The wicket in the warm-up match against Australia Under-19s was different to the one we will have in the semi-final tomorrow (in Antigua),” Dhull said on the eve of the match.
The India skipper scored an unbeaten half-century in that game against the Kangaroos while the spinners wreaked havoc.
India, who finished runners-up in the last edition by losing to Bangladesh who they knocked out in the quarter-final this year, are looking for their record fifth crown in U-19 World Cup. Australia have won the tournament three times with the latest one coming in 2010.
