Preview: Canada U19s v Namibia U19s
After losing both their opening games, Namibia’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals proper are over. But a win could help them in the draw for the ninth-place playoffs.
Canada meanwhile showed promise against Bangladesh, and for them a win would set up something close to a do-or-die clash against England. Lose, however, and they’ll be joining Namibia in the battle for ninth.
Form guide
Of the Associate nations, Canada are the team who have come closest to beating a Full Member this tournament, reducing Bangladesh to 29/2 and eventually falling short by just 66 runs. A comfortable warm-up win against Kenya also suggests a team who are perhaps a cut above the other qualifiers for this tournament.
Match Highlights: Bangladesh beat Canada by 66 runs at U19CWC
Namibia, meanwhile, have been capable with the bat, playing out their full 50 overs against England, and scoring at more than five an over against Bangladesh, but wayward with the ball, conceding their runs at an economy rate of almost nine an over through the competition so far. They came into the tournament without a win against international opposition in 2017.
Highlights from England's triumph over Namibia U19s
Players to watch
Faisal Jamkhandi (Can)
Faisal Jamkhandi's five-wicket haul against Bangladesh
The fast bowler became the first player to take a five-wicket haul at this tournament with a flurry of late wickets against Bangladesh. Before this tournament the quick worked with world-renowned fast bowling coach Ian Pont, who has coached the likes of Dale Steyn and Shoaib Akhtar, and the work is clearly paying off.
Nicol Loftie-Eaton (Nam)
Loftie Eaton trapped lbw after a handy 36
It ended up being nowhere near enough, but that Namibia posted almost 200 against England was in large part down to their No.6, whose 36 injected some life into a listless innings. Namibia have shown they can bat time, but they’ll need more enterprise like Loftie-Eaton’s to pose a challenging total.
Head to head
Namibia have won both ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup matches played between these two teams, in the 2002 and 2004 editions of the tournament. The first was a thrashing, Canada bowled out for 85 chasing 226, but the second was a thriller, Canada falling just 23 runs short of gunning down Namibia’s 263.
World Cup history
This is Canada’s sixth appearance at the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup. They have never made the quarter-finals, with a best finish of 11th in 2010, and second-from-last-place finishes every other time. They did manage to tie with Bangladesh in their very first tournament, and beat Zimbabwe during the 2010 competition.
Namibia are taking part in the tournament for the ninth time, also having made their bow at the competition in 1998, when they finished 15th. They had never placed in the top 10 until 2016, when they pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament by beating neighbours South Africa which helped them finish second in Group A behind Bangladesh. Defeat by India in the quarter-final, followed by victory against Nepal saw them claim seventh place and qualify automatically for this year’s competition as the highest-finishing Associate team at the tournament.
Forecast
Sun all day. Put your factor 50 on, and don't even think about bringing an umbrella, unless it can also double as a parasol.
Squads
Canada: Arslan Khan (C), Akash Gill, Ashtan Deosammy, Emanuel Khokhar, Kavian Naress, Kevin Singh, Pranav Sharma, Randhir Sandhu, Krishen Samuel, Faisal Jamkhandi, Arshdeep Dhaliwal, Rishiv Joshi, Aran Pathmanathan, Pieter Pretorius, Rommel Shazad
**Namibia:**Lohan Louwrens (c), Henry Brink, Petrus Burger, Jan-Izak de Villiers, Shaun Fouche, Jurgen Linde, Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Lottering, Erich van Mollendorf, Dewald Nell, Mauritius Ngupita, Ben Shikongo, Floris Steenkamp, Ramon Wilmot, Eben van Wyk