Australia team ratings
Tanveer Sangha: 9
Very impressive tournament indeed, once again the legspinner is the best performed in the squad. He bowls in quite a modern way for a leggie, not a great deal of flight but he is accurate and get decent turn in both directions. Also, rather unlike Pope, he is a more than handy lower order batsman, got Australia over the line against Afghanistan in a game Australia could have quite easily lost
Sam Fanning: 7
The most productive batsman in the squad, the only one to pass 50 on one occasion. His strike rate was a little on the low side for someone renowned as fairly attacking of style, but that is in part because the failures of others led him to play more of an anchor role. Have to wonder if things may have been different had he played the WI game. Hindsight is a wonderful thing I guess
Connor Sully: 7
If you look solely on raw numbers you may wonder why he gets the rating he does, but the numbers alone certainly don't tell the full story. Consistently was Australia's quickest and most threatening seamer throughout the tournament. Generally operated at speeds in the middish 130s but hit north of 140 on occasions from a good smooth, upright action. Also did some good work with the stick, his quickfire 35 against the English was a decisive innings under pressure
Cooper Connolly: 7
Came out of nowhere to get in the squad in the first place, didn't get an actual game opportunity until the arse end of the tournament, but when the opportunity did arrive he was able to show his worth, good innings against a strong WI attack in the 5th place playoff. His left arm wristies are continuing to develop. Still eligible for the 2022 tournament, expect him to be one of the key pillars of that squad
Jake Fraser-McGurk: 6
Started the tournament very well with a confident 84 against the West Indies, but from then on he had a unusual and largely disappointing time of it. His time in the team ended in truly bizarre circumstances, a scratch to the face from a monkey in a Free State nature reserve. Safe to say I have never seen or heard of anything like that before
Liam Scott: 6
Had a strange time of it. With the bat he had a shoddy run originally, being moved from opening to the lower middle order and then back again can't have helped, yet he finally came good in the final game against the West Indies, having looked in struggletown the first time the two teams played. His tournament with the ball was even stranger, wasn't used at all in the first WI game, yet when he did roll the arm over it was both effective and economical. With his pace being gentle I still see Scott as more a batting allrounder, but I will be keeping a close eye on his development for both Glenelg and the Redbacks should he play more this season
Todd Murphy: 5
Did a pretty handy job with the ball in a primarily containing role, his strength as an offie seems mainly to be accuracy, he can turn the ball but good length with variations in pace and flight seems to be his general modus operandi. His batting was scarcely used, but his one innings if substance was impressive, partnered with Sully to put England in the dirt with a brilliant rearguard resistance
Patrick Rowe: 5
With the bat he looked fairly solid. Not much of a power game yet made some useful lower order runs at times when the top order didn't deliver. With the gloves he was fairly solid for the most part yet made a couple of disappointing errors on occasion. A real middle of the road performance really, neither shone nor failed.
Brad Simpson: 5
Good numbers on paper, but a bit of downhill skiing against Nigeria helped that somewhat. Definitely a fair bit of raw talent with Simpson though, gets reasonable pace from a slingy, vaugely Chris Tremain like action. At just 17 time is on his side, I will be interested to see how he develops over the next few seasons
Lachlan Hearne: 5
It's certainly not like he's had a bad tournament, but from being the best of the recent U19 national championships it was probably a bit disappointing for him. Seemed to get better the longer the tournament went on, but all things considered Australia probably would have liked a bit more out of him with the willow in hand
Mackenzie Harvey: 4
In the English game he was very good indeed, that 65 was a top notch innings (if not as good as the one he played against the senior team a couple years back). But as someone who is the captain, who has been in their state setup for 3 or 4 years now and unlucky not to be picked in the 2018 team, more was likely expected. A small part of me is disappointed he isn't a seamer with an epic slower ball
Matthew Willans: 4
Not a brilliant tournament for him, didn't bowl badly but lacked penetration at times. Not express, 125ish on average is short of where he likely needs to be. But he's accurate, gets good bounce and can swing it back in when he gets it right. If he can fund an extra half a yard from somewhere Willans could be a weapon, but as things stand he isn't there yet
Corey Kelly: 4
Was only really a peripheral member of the squad, hardly batted but bowled well when called upon though. His performance against the strong Indian batting lineup was good, fairly steady but can get the odd one to do a fair bit off the deck. Then he got concussed in that game and that was that for his tournament. Still think his twin brother should have also been in the squad.
Ollie Davies: 2
Unfortunately the biggest disappointment in the squad, made 39 in the final game against the West Indies but his other four innings yielded just seven (!) runs, that's a shocker by any standards. Was coming back off a busted arm but that isn't a mitigating factor considering he had no such worries in the warm up game. His offspin was useful at times.
Liam Marshall: N/A
Can't really comment here as I barely saw Marshall bowl all throughout the tournament, but the fact he was only used sparingly wasn't a good sign. Was talked up as sharp by some in around NSW yet thinking back to the national carnival he looks about 130 tops to me, possibly not even that
Cricket Australia; 0
Where do I begin. Coverage of the team was thin on the ground throughout, barely any attempt to introduce or showcase the players in the team, not even giving them proper profiles on the official CA website. Their reaction to the instagram posts was entering storm in a teacup territory too somewhat. But the biggest failure by far is not organising more U19 bilateral games before the tournament proper, the only one was that series against NZ way back and only about half that team made the final squad anyway. Yet another substandard effort from those muppets at Jolimont St
