The New Zealand Under-19 cricket team is set to play India today in the semi-final of the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
The match will be played at Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville with the winning team going on to face Australia in the final on August 26th.
New Zealand’s path to the semi-final included victories over Scotland and Afghanistan, before a solitary loss to Pakistan in their final group match. They then came up against the West Indies in the quarter-final, who they beat by three wickets in a thrilling final ball victory.
India began their campaign with a loss to the West Indies, but advanced to the knock-out stages after wins over Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea. They then beat rivals Pakistan in their quarter-final by one wicket.
New Zealand captain Will Young said on the eve of the match: “The victory over the West Indies has given the team a lot of belief ahead of the semi-final and the whole group is excited by what lies in front of us.
“India is a strong side and it will be a tough match, but at the same time we feel confident that if we play to our potential we can beat them.
“We’re happy to have made it to this stage, but we’re definitely not satisfied yet. We know there’s a lot at stake and we’ve just got to focus on one game at a time.”
It will be the second time the sides have met this year, with New Zealand claiming a six wicket victory over India in the Quadrangular series with Australia and England in April.
New Zealand will be without batting all-rounder Henry Walsh for the game, after the Wellington based player returned home on Monday having suffered an ankle injury. Northern District’s batsman Ben Hyde has joined the team as his replacement.
The match begins 9:30 am local time (11:30am NZ time) and will be live on SKY SPORT 2.
For live scoring go to: http://www.iccu19cricketworldcup.com/scorecard/inunzu2308/ind-nz-aug-23-2012
