Benoni [South Africa], February 9 : Australia seamer Tom Straker expressed his thoughts as he surpassed ace South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada's best bowling figures in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup final/semi-final (6/25) in the second semi-final against Pakistan on Thursday.
Straker grabbed six wickets in his spell of 9.5 overs where he conceded just 24 runs and bowled one maiden over as well. The right-arm speedster bagged the wickets of Shamyl Hussain, Azan Awais, Pakistan U-19 skipper Saad Baig, Ubaid Shah, Mohammad Zeeshan, and Ali Raza.
The 18-year-old stated that after his dismissal the atmosphere was very intense in the dressing room. He further said that the bowlers did well to bowl out the opposition under 180.
"We got it closer than we would have wanted. After I got out, no one was moving, everyone was sitting on their seats and it was pretty intense out there. Pretty proud, especially those last two wickets, I could finish it off early. Credit to us the bowlers to bowl them out for under 180, it was a pretty good effort today. I didn't know that, I'll take that one. Probably not, we had pretty good confidence throughout the whole tournament and leading up to it. So, pretty similar," Straker asserted after the match.
Recapping the match, Pakistan set a mere total of 180 runs after being asked to bat first by the Australian skipper.
Harry Dixon and Sam Konstas helped Australia get off to a solid start in its chase of 180. The pair scored 33 runs in the opening powerplay. However, Ali Raza responded for Pakistan at the opening of the second Powerplay. He got one to nip back in and sent Konstas' off-stump cartwheeling.
Soon after, Pakistan got a fortuitous break in the 14th over when Hugh Weibgen smacked Naveed Khan's full toss straight into the palms of Haroon Arshad at cover. Wickets continued to fall, with Harjas Singh being run out in the 16th over due to a misunderstanding, and Ryan Hicks being bowled by Ubaid Shah in the next.
Dixon and Ollie Peake then worked together to recreate the Australian innings. Their steady progress was aided by good stroke play and Australia's chase was soon back on track. Dixon completed his half-century in the 24th over. However, just as the game was swinging in Australia's favour, Arafat Minhas bowled Dixon for a beauty. The left-arm spinner bowled excellent control, and Australia's asking rate increased.
The addition of Tom Campbell aided a left-right hitting combination in operation. Campbell and Peake followed up on their prior cooperation, helping Australia get closer to their goal. Pakistan needed a special act to get back into the game, and Minhas delivered. He bowled Campbell for 25 in the 39th over. Then Raza removed Peake for 49 to leave the game evenly poised.
Raza's double-wicket final over put Pakistan just one away from an appearance in the final. However, MacMillan kept his cool and saw Australia through in the final over.
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