Watch: Australian fast bowler Tom Straker rounded off Pakistan’s innings in the U19 World Cup 2024 semi-final with consecutive yorkers to finish with 6-24.
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Pakistan were reduced to 79-5 after Australia captain Hugh Weibgen opted to field in the second semi-final of the 2024 U19 World Cup, at the Willowmoore Park in Benoni. First-change bowler Tom Straker took two of these wickets.
Azwan Awais and Arafat Minhas put up a rearguard act of sorts with identical scores of 52, but Straker returned to strike twice more. Pakistan were 179-8 in the 49th over when he ran to bowl at No.10 Mohammad Zeeshan.
Straker aimed for a leg-stump yorker. Zeeshan gave himself room in an attempt to smash the ball through the off side, but could not connect, and the ball sent the leg-stump flying towards the slip cordon.
To the near-identical next ball, No.11 Ali Raza attempted a near-identical stroke. The outcome was near-identical as well, though this time the leg-stump made its way towards leg slip.
Straker finished with 6-24, the third-best figures for Australia in an Under-19 ODI. The best two entries – Lloyd Pope’s 8-35 against England at Queenstown and Jason Ralston’s 7-15 against Papua New Guinea at Lincoln – came in the space of four days in the 2018 U19 World Cup.
Watch Tom Straker take two in two in the U19 World Cup 2024 semi-final:
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