Highest wicket-taker Wellalage, only SL player in the ICC Most Valuable team

Dunith Wellalage is the only Sri Lankan player named in the ICC Most Valuable team of the Under 19 World Cup after the Sri Lankan skipper finished as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker.

Despite taking only a single wicket in the in his last two matches, Wellalage finished as the Under 19 World Cup’s highest wicket taker. His closest rival in that list was England’s Joshua Boyden who finished with just 15 wickets after taking a couple of wickets in the final against India.

Pakistan’s Awais Ali too finished with 15 wickets, while Bangladesh’s Ripon Mondol finished the tournament as the fourth highest wicket taker (14). All top four bowlers in that list are selected in the 12-strong line up as champions India lead the way with three players included.

The ICC announced the Upstox Most Valuable Team of the Tournament yesterday with Yash Dhull, the captain of the victorious team chosen to skipper a line-up of future stars.

Overall, eight nations are represented in the team.

Pace is provided by the likes of Josh Boyden, Awais Ali and Ripon Mondol.

All-rounders Tom Prest and Dunith Wellalage provide the spin options alongside Vicky Ostwal.

Wellalage had an aggregate of 264 runs from the tournament which included a century. In the list if highest scorers Wellalage’s 264 runs is ranked seventh.

Wellalage captained Sri Lanka to the sixth place, their best result in three editions, and he was the only bowler to take two fivefers, doing so against Scotland and Australia.

South Africa’s Dewald Brevis was announced as the Player of the Tournament for the ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in West Indies for his record-breaking run haul.

The side was pulled together by a selection panel including commentators Samuel Badree, Natalie Germanos, ICC Match Referee Graeme Labrooy and journalist Sandipan Banerjee.

Yash Dhull, who captained India to the title at the ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022, takes up his place at number four having hit 229 runs in the competition, including one century, and his deployment of his bowlers was crucial in leading his side to overall victory in the tournament.

His opposite number in the final, England’s Tom Prest, sits one place below them in the batting order of the Upstox Most Valuable Team of the Tournament having hit 292 runs in six games, the third most of the competition.

Dewald Brevis, a right-handed batter, received the accolade of Player of the Tournament after crashing 506 runs across six matches to become only the second player to hit over 500 runs at an Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup.

In doing so, the 18-year-old passed Indian legend Shikhar Dhawan’s total for the most runs in a single tournament, hitting one more run than Dhawan managed in 2004.

Brevis also took seven wickets in the competition returning best figures of 2-18 against Uganda during the group stages.

Haseebullah Khan from Pakistan is named as one of the openers after scoring 380 runs across the U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, his high score of 136 one of two centuries he made in the tournament, Brevis was the only other batter to make two centuries.

Haseebullah is also selected as the wicketkeeper having taken eight catches and two stumpings, the fourth best return of the competition.

His opening partner is Australia’s Teague Wyllie who tied with Angkrish Raghuvanshi for 278 runs, the joint fourth-most of the tournament.

Wyllie hit 39 fours, the second most, including eight in his 101 not out against Scotland, one of three fifty-plus scores in the tournament.

Raj Bawa is another all-rounder who has impressed throughout the World Cup, hitting a tournament-high 162 not out against Uganda, on his way to 252 runs for the competition.

Bawa was Player of the Match in the final against England taking five for 31 to put India in a strong position and take his wicket tally to nine.

Just below him in the line-up is teammate Vicky Ostwal who took 12 wickets across his six matches with his left-arm orthodox including five for 28 against South Africa.

Bangladesh’s representative in the team comes in the form of right-arm seamer Ripon Mondol, who took wickets in all but one of Bangladesh’s games.

And, against Canada and India he took four-fers to end the tournament on 14 wickets, the joint third-highest of the 2022 competition.

The other bowler who sits above him in the wicket standings is Awais Ali of Pakistan who claimed 15 wickets in his six matches, including six for 56, one of only two six-fers in the tournament.

The right-arm medium pacer opened up the tournament with those six wickets against Zimbabwe and was consistent as Pakistan finished in the top five for the fifth consecutive competition.

England’s Josh Boyden earns his place for his extremely economical bowling, chalking up 15 wickets in the tournament with an economy of 3.21 and an average of 9.86, the best in the tournament for any bowler with seven wickets or more.

The final name on the team sheet is Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad. The all-rounder took wickets in every World Cup game on his way to 10 wickets, with best figures of two for 18 against Papua New Guinea.

With the bat, Ahmad made three scores over 24 to provide useful runs in the lower order as Afghanistan finished fourth, their joint-highest finish at an ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022.

The team of the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 (in batting order) is:

Haseebullah Khan (WK, Pakistan)

Teague Wyllie (Australia)

Dewald Brevis (South Africa)

Yash Dhull (Captain, India)

Tom Prest (England)

Dunith Wellalage (Sri Lanka)

Raj Bawa (India)

Vicky Ostwal (India)

Ripon Mondol (Bangladesh)

Awais Ali (Pakistan)

Josh Boyden (England)