(Cricket news) With Ireland’s U19 team set to face Uganda at the ICC Under-19s Men’s Cricket World Cup today, captain Tim Tector speaks about the difficult qualification campaign, defeating arch-rivals Scotland in back-to-back matches and playing the four match warm up series against Zimbabwe. The 18 year old emphasized that despite the 3-1 defeat in the warm up series, the team is acclimatizing to the conditions well ahead of the World Cup.
Speaking from the team hotel in Georgetown, Tector said: “It’s certainly a privilege to captain Ireland at this Under-19s World Cup. It’s definitely a strange feeling being the third brother to play for our country – knowing that Jack and Harry have already been on this journey. And for all three of us to captain is even harder to get your head around, but I know that we are all extremely honoured to have captained our country at this level, and our parents are very proud of us all.
“Having two older brothers who have been there and done it does help, and I know I can seek their advice about issues or concerns. I was actually fortunate to travel out to see Harry captain at the Under-19s World Cup in New Zealand in 2018, so it was great to experience a World Cup from outside the ropes and see how all the teams go about their business. Jack played in Bangladesh in 2016, and they played India on TV as well, so he just told me a few things about playing a game of that calibre and how his side went about that game.
“We often talk about cricket together – whether it’s around the dinner table, in the car or even on the golf course there is always cricket spoken about. It’s not one of those things that needs to be forced, as it’s something that we all love, so it’s just something that is in our daily conversations.”
About the tournament, Tector said: “I’ve been lucky enough to captain Ireland right through the levels starting from Under-13 to now at Under-19, and the squad hasn’t changed a huge amount – so we are lucky in the sense that everyone knows each other very well and we all get along really well.
“The World Cup Group we are in is a challenging one. To get through to the Super 8’s means we have to beat Uganda, then either India or South Africa. That will be a tough ask but we’re here to compete, so we will go into these games as prepared as we can be.
“There’s no easy game in our group. Uganda are no different to us, in that we have both won our regional qualifier and have earned our spot in this World Cup. We’ll have to play well to beat them.
“Opportunities to play teams like India and South Africa don’t come around often so we have to make the most of them. We know that they are going to come at us hard so we have to be prepared for that.
“When talking about expectations, I don’t want to put in place one goal for the tournament, and then if we don’t achieve that then our campaign goes down as failure. I would rather us, as a team, play the best cricket that we can play, and if we do that then we hopefully will get the rewards that we deserve.”
Ireland Under-19s played two official warm-up matches this week – a loss to Sri Lanka and a win over Scotland – and will now meet Uganda at 9am (local time) or 1pm (GMT) tomorrow at the Everest Cricket Club in Guyana.
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Ireland Under-19s Group Stage fixtures are:
15 January: Ireland Under-19s v Uganda Under-19s (Everest Cricket Club, Guyana)
19 January: Ireland Under-19s v India Under-19s (Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago)
21 January: Ireland Under-19s v South Africa Under-19s (Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago)
The Squad
The core World Cup squad consists of 15 players, while one travelling reserve and two non-travelling reserves have also been named in line with Covid-19 protocols.
The Ireland Under-19s Men’s squad is:
Tim Tector (captain) (YMCA), Diarmuid Burke (Malahide), Joshua Cox (Paul Roos Gymnasium), Jack Dickson (Instonians), Liam Doherty (St. Andrew’s School), Jamie Forbes (YMCA), Daniel Forkin (Merrion), Matthew Humphreys (Lisburn), Philippe le Roux (Railway Union), Scott Macbeth (St. Johnston), Nathan McGuire (Rush), Muzamil Sherzad (North Kildare), David Vincent (Clontarf), Luke Whelan (North County), Reuben Wilson (YMCA).
Travelling reserve: Robbie Millar (Eglinton)
Non-travelling reserves: Ryan Hunter (CSNI), Ewan Wilson (Muckamore)
The coach and support staff are:
Peter Johnston (Head Coach), Beth Healy (Team Manager), Jay Shelat (Performance Analyst), Darren Nicol (Physiotherapist), Simon Johnston (Assistant Coach), Albert van der Merwe (Assistant Coach).
