Teams:
Australia U19 (Playing XI): Will Malajczuk, Nitesh Samuel, Steven Hogan, Oliver Peake(c), Alex Lee Young(f), Jayden Draper, Aryan Sharma, Hayden Schiller, Naden Cooray, Will Byrom, Charles Lachmund
England U19 (Playing XI): Ben Dawkins, Joseph Moores, Ben Mayes, Thomas Rew (c/c), Caleb Falconer, Ralphie Albert, Farhan Ahmed, Sebastian Morgan, James Minto, Manny Lumsden, Alex French
Oliver Peake: We’d probably be batting for the same reasons too, but we’ve taken the first majority in this tournament and we feel good. (Conditions) Definitely a bit lower and slower than Namibia. So it took some getting used to, but we had Harare here and a few good training days. So we feel ready to go. (Team Message) The same thing we’ve really had for the whole tournament to be honest, just enjoy it. Every opportunity is great. And we have no pressure on each other. There’s nothing to lose. It’s just about having fun and seeing what we can do. Will Byrom comes on for Ben Gordon.
Thomas Rew: First we burn. We’ve had a bit of experience in that area so I think we’ll try to use it to the best of our ability today and try to play a good score. (Conditions) Somewhat inconsistent bouncing throughout the day. It usually gets a little rough, it spins and we try to set the tone early. (Preparation) We had a rest day after the game and then a couple of training days to prepare for it. We feel good. Just one change. Alex Green is ill and Alex French is coming.
Pitch Report | Lydia Greenway and Andy Flower: “Beautiful conditions here in Bulawayo. It’s pitch four today, which was the pitch used in the England-Bangladesh game. As for the temperatures, low 17, high 28. Not too dry a breeze at the moment. And the sun has been shining on the square for the last week, so that means a lot to me. I just want to point out a couple of patches on the pitch, we’ve got straw grass in the middle of the pitch, but in between there are some of these really dry spots, and there will be an inconsistent ball for us, and then there will be spin, both for spinners and slower balls for seamers, I reckon with such tricky batting conditions and maybe not the huge 300+ scores we expected, one thing is for sure.