My reflections on the 2022 Under 19 World Cup by Chris Rew.
The 2022 Under 19 World Cup was eagerly anticipated after nearly two years of disruption to youth international cricket fixtures caused by the pandemic. Luckily, the tournament, held in the West Indies in January / February 2022 was relatively unaffected by Covid, although several teams lost a few players to isolation and Canada had to leave the plate tournament early when nine of their squad tested positive. The ICC, however, did a magnificent job of organisation in testing circumstances.
From a Somerset perspective, there were three representatives in the squad, Sonny Baker (fast bowler), James Rew and George Thomas (both top order batsmen). What a testament to the work being done by the Somerset Pathway, Academy and Second XI Coaches. Unfortunately Sonny Baker, the team’s main strike bowler, suffered a back injury in a warm up game and had to return to England.
England had managed to fit in two warm up series in late 2021, home against the West Indies (won 4-2), and away against Sri Lanka (lost 2-3).
So onto the West Indies and a squad of 15 young players assembled in St Kitts for the group games, against Bangladesh (the reigning under 19 World Champions), Canada and the UAE.
The Group games were won quite comfortably, with Bangladesh being dismissed for 97 in the first game, England U19s chasing this down in 25 overs. In the second game England amassed 320 -7 against Canada (with George Thomas scoring 52 ). Canada reached a creditable 214 in reply. In the final group game England U19s posted a daunting 362-6 in 50 overs against UAE, with their captain (Hampshire’s Tom Prest) scoring 154no. UAE being restricted to a score of 173 in reply.
Going through to the Finals stage in Antigua as Group winners, England were drawn against South Africa under 19s in the quarter final. Four wickets from Leicestershire’s Rehan Ahmed helped restrict South Africa to 209, which was chased down in 31.2 overs, helped by a blistering 88 off 42 balls by Warwickshire’s Jacob Bethel. A more tense semi final followed – England batted first and reached 231-6, including a half century from George Thomas. Although seemingly cruising to victory with five overs to go, tight fielding and well taken catches from England halted the Afghanistan reply at 215-9,15 runs short.
This brought England to the Final at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium to face a strong Indian U19 team. England batted first, and were in trouble at 61 for 6 after Indian seamers Ravi Kumar and Raj Bawa ploughed through the top order . However, a gritty 95 from Somerset’s James Rew (aided by 34no from Northants’ James Sales) lifted England to a total of 189. Although there were moments during India’s reply where it looked possible that England might defend this total, India paced their reply perfectly and reached the target with two overs to spare.
Although England, as runners up, failed to win a trophy last won by the 1998 England under 19 world Cup team, they kept us all on the edge of our seats until the final moments of the tournament. Every member of the team contributed with bat or ball at some stage during the competition, with a very high standard of fielding throughout. Behind the scenes the England U19 squad were excellently coached by Richard Dawson and his team whilst the West Indies Cricket Board were magnificent hosts.
The Forgotten Final- Somerset V Kent at Lord’s , September 1967 by Richard Walsh
Whenever people talk about Somerset’s success in one day cricket most refer to the period in the club’s history known as the `Glory Years, when between 1979 and 1983 the team won five one day trophies- four of which came in finals at Lord’s.
Many folk overlook the fact that Somerset had played in two finals before they enjoyed success – in 1978 when they lost to Sussex in what was the precursor to their run of success, and in 1967 when they lost to Kent. The match against Kent in 1967 is often the forgotten final because it was only the fifth year of the Gillette Cup and one day cricket was very much still in its infancy.
This summer marks the 55th anniversary of the match against Kent and recently I was lucky enough to be able to spend time in the company of Somerset stalwarts Ken Palmer and Peter Robinson who were members of the team on that long ago early autumn day.
One day cricket was first introduced to the domestic calendar in 1963 when the Gillette Cup knock out competition started but Somerset had not fared so well in the early days as Ken Palmer explained: “When it was first introduced I couldn’t believe it because you could just go in and have a slog and then bowl your overs – none of us took it too seriously, that is until we realised that there was a Man of the Match Award that paid good money!”
On the other hand Peter Robinson, who joined Somerset from his home county in 1965, had been 12th man for Worcestershire when they lost the first ever one day final to Sussex in 1963. Robbo, as he is known. might have been 12th man again in 1967, but for an injury.
“Tony Clarkson who was the regular opener was injured in a car accident just before the Weston Festival so they pushed me up the order to open and in the championship game beforehand against Middlesex at Lord’s I scored 97 and that cemented me opening the batting for the final the next day.
In the semi final Somerset had beaten Lancashire at Old Trafford in a game that went into the second day- when Ken got Man of the Match for his three for 20 off 12 overs as the Red Rose county were dismissed for 110. In reply to the visitors total of 210.
By 1967 Gillette Cup matches had been reduced from 65 to 60 overs per side and after winning the toss and choosing to bat Kent had reached 129 for one and were coasting to a big total by the lunch break.
Ken said: “I didn’t bowl very well that morning and their two openers Luckhurst and Denness got on top of me and I couldn’t hold them- but I still managed to end with one for 37 from my 12 overs!
Robbo went on: “Then Bill Alley and Fred Rumsey pulled it back well after lunch. Colin Cowdrey, who had just been announced as the new England captain was clapped all the way to the wicket -but he didn’t last long as I caught him low down at mid wicket off the bowling of KP and they clapped him all the way back to the pavilion too!”
In the end Kent were bowled out for 193 in reply to which Somerset were dismissed for 161, of which Robbo hit 48.
“We should have won it really, but our big batters didn’t come off that day. I started well and I guess that after getting in like I did I should have stayed in and finished the job off. I think the turning point in our innings was when Mervyn Kitchen was out caught and bowled by Alan Dixon- that was a great catch. Merv drove one back and he caught it low one handed.”
Ken said: “Dicko was a good cricketer all round and every time he played against Somerset he seemed to produce something special.”
Robbo went on: “Terry Barwell and Budgie ( Graham Burgess) brought us back a little bit but by then the game was almost up really.”
Following the `Gillette Cup the Somerset players asked for more money for appearing in the final but were told that their contracts said they had to play in any game the club said.
“We all had a go about it and in the end they agreed to pay us an extra £15 – and that was taxable! I was only getting paid £575 a year then so anything extra was a help. You were also supposed to get more money when you got your cap, but I never did.”
To help to supplement their income from the final Fred Rumsey had put together souvenir brochure ‘Up from Somerset for the Cup,’ which was sold around the ground and outside at Lord’s.
Robbo said : We weren’t going to get much money for playing so he came up with the idea of producing the book. He did a lot of work on it and we all had £20 a piece from the sale of it. Fred had lots of ideas- I never thought that he got the credit for setting up the PCA.”
Lord’s had never seen the kind of support that Somerset had brought with them.
Ken said: “The crowd was fantastic and lots of them were there in their smocks and straw hats, pitchforks with barrels of cider there was all sorts, I don’t think Lord’s had ever seen anything like it. The Kent crowd had brought hops that they hung over the railings. People were sat on the grass as well- the crowd was huge and we all had the dabbles- don’t worry about that.”
Robbo said: “You got to the dressing room and you didn’t know if you were going to be batting or fielding and then you heard the Somerset fans chanting Bill Alley’s name out loud. You felt a bag of nerves really. Ken and Fred had both played in test matches but for most of the rest of us this was the biggest day of our cricketing lives. Walking out to bat at Lord’s is something that you never forget so it was just nice to get some runs at Lord’s. It’s a long walk back if you get a nought!”
Ken said: “When you walked out there you felt so much on edge because it was so vast and there was such a huge crowd- it was like those big football stadiums. There was lots of noise, there were farmers with their smocks and flagons of cider, I think that special trains had been laid on. ”We didn’t have a plan really we just turned up in the morning had a few catches and that was it and out we went. After the game some of us stayed the night but others went home.”
Robbo said: “ Back then I think that we were closer to the Somerset people because we used to go all round the county to Glastonbury, Weston, Yeovil, Street, Bristol Imperial and Bath to play games and also played benefit matches at lots of the smaller clubs, which has all changed now.”
He added: “Certainly the atmosphere was terrific. Since then I have been to a lot of finals with Somerset but I have never known a day quite like that one.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.