Samsara Match Preview: Nepal U19 vs. Ireland U19 – FINAL

Kathmandu – Nepal U-19 will face Ireland U-19 in the final of  ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier at Kinnara Oval Cricket Ground, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia tomorrow, October 22, 2015. The match starts at 7:15 NST. The winner of this match will qualify for the 2016 U-19 World Cup, Bangladesh.

Big Picture
Nepal’s morale boosting 8 wicket victory today puts Nepal in as favorites for tomorrow. Nepal have severely dented the confidence of Irish contingent and it will be incredibly difficult for the bunch of 19 year olds to recover over night. However, tomorrow’s match is different ball game – the winner takes all while the loser gets nothing. The pressure of this occasion will be tough for both sides.

Nepal will try to duplicate their performance today. As expected Ireland struggled against spin today losing all 7 wickets to spinners. Nepalese spinners are likely to give Nepal upper hand in the tomorrow’s match as well. Ireland on the other hand will be hoping the finals pitch will provide less assistance to spinners.

Qualification
Ireland finished second in the 4 team European U-19 Championship. They were unlucky to have not qualified for the U-19 World Cup directly.  They were on equal points with the Scotland but Scots qualified on better Net Run Rate – courtesy of Ireland’s unfortunate loss to Scotland on the last day of the tournament.  Prior to that Ireland had won all 5 matches including a comfortable 5 wicket win over Scotland.

Nepal U-19 vs Ireland U19 : Head to Head

Prior to this tournament the youth side of Nepal and Ireland have faced each other thrice – Nepal winning two of those meeting. In the 2004 U-19 World Cup Nepal defeated Ireland by 60 runs. Ireland U19 was lead by current England ODI Captain Eion Morgan. Morgan scored 86 runs in that match. The other two matches have been fairly even; Nepal winning one by 14 runs(ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier, 2011) and Ireland winning the other by 14 runs(ICC U-19 World Cup 2012)

Tournament Records
Leading Run Scorer – Aarom Gillespie(Ireland) – 146 runs;  Followed by Jack Tector(USA) -140 runs
Leading Wicket Taker – Rory Anders(Ireland) and Prem Tamang with 11 wickets each

Players to Watch

Gary and William McClintock are the only twins playing in the tournament. Gary with 13 wickets was the highest wicket taker in European Championship for Ireland. William scored 137 runs in the same event 8 runs behind Ireland’s leading run scorer skipper Jack Trector. Gary made a fighting 27 today.

Irish skipper Jack Tector scored 46 runs today opening the batting for Ireland and scored easily off both medium pace and spin. He can be a game changer tomorrow.

Aarif Seikh vice captain of Nepal U19 side is the second leading wicket taker for Nepal in this tournament. Prior to today’s fixture his 7 wickets came at an average of 2.42 and incredible economy of 0.71 runs.  Of his 23.4 overs in the tournament 12 have been maidens. He scored 54 runs in the only innings be got to bat. His performance will be important against tough Irish side.

Prem Tamang is the leading wicket taker for Nepal in this tournament and has produced match winning performances in last two matches. Everyone’s eyes will be on him.

cricnepal Staff
cricnepal Staffhttps://cricnepal.com
cricnepal Staff writes the news on National and International cricket.

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