All-rounders may carry Kiwis' hopes

BY LOGAN SAVORY

What a story this would be. The third-ranked Kiwis step up to the mark to win their first under-19 world title in their own backyard.

It sounds nice, doesn't it?

New Zealand's best result to date at the tournament was finishing as the beaten finalist in 1998.

The New Zealand under-19 team, which featured the likes of James Franklin, Lou Vincent, Kyle Mills and Peter McGlashan, lost that final by seven wickets to England.

The job in front of the current batch of promising New Zealand cricket prospects is to better that effort.

New Zealand, coached by Chris Kuggeleijn, have a handful of players who have already experienced first-class cricket and that experience should put them in good stead.

Canterbury's Corey Anderson is one of the players who will need a big tournament if New Zealand are to progress through to the big games later on.

Anderson is a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and useful medium-pace bowler.

The 19-year-old has already been toyed with as a Black Caps prospect, although he was injured last year when he was tipped to be selected to play a twenty20 international.

Another key figure in the 2010 New Zealand under-19 squad will be Anderson's fellow all-rounder Harry Boam.

Boam has also played domestic cricket at a senior level in New Zealand. In fact, he played his first game for Wellington while still at school.

The New Zealand side has a third all-rounder, Doug Bracewell, who will also feature regularly with bat and ball.

Captain Craig Cachopa is another promising prospect and will need to play a big role with the bat for New Zealand in the tournament.

The first mission will be to progress past pool play, which should happen without any hiccups.

Sri Lanka are dangerous prospects but expect New Zealand to beat both Canada and Zimbabwe to progress from pool C to the top eight.

All New Zealand's round-robin games will be played in Christchurch, with their first against Canada on Saturday.

If they do make the quarterfinals New Zealand are likely to play either Australia or South Africa from group B.

NEW ZEALAND SCHEDULE

Round-robin
v Canada, Saturday, January 16 (Chch)
v Zimbabwe, Tuesday, January 19 (Chch)
v Sri Lanka, Wednesday, January 20 (Chch)

NEW ZEALAND SQUAD
Craig Cachopa (captain), Corey Anderson, Tom Blundell, Harry Boam, Doug Bracewell, Michael Bracewell, Dane Cleaver, Jono Hickey, Tim Johnston, Tom Latham, Jimmy Neesham, Bevan Small, Mattie Thomas, Logan van Beck, Ben Wheeler

- © Fairfax NZ News