da stake casino： England’s opening bowlers, Steven Finn and James Harris, are upbeat ahead of their knock-out match against India on Sunday, the first day of quarter-finals at the Under-19 World Cup
George Binoy in Kuala Lumpur23-Feb-2008
Steven Finn has already turned in a couple of impressive performances in Malaysia © International Cricket Council
Although England lost a warm-up match against India, their opening bowlers – Steven Finn and James Harris – are confident of causing an upset as they prepare for a rematch on Sunday, the first day of the quarter-finals. Finn and Harris had India at 7 for 3, before Tanmay Srivastava and Saurabh Tiwary shared a 134-run stand to lead their side to victory.”We really shook them and I know they will be worried,” Finn, the 6’8″Middlesex fast bowler, told . “As a bowling unit, we’ve gotto take each batsman as they come. They’re a very confident team but we’ve got enough in the bowling and batting to beat them tomorrow.”The difference between then and now is that India haven’t been openingwith Abhinav Mukund – they have Turuwar Kohli, who’s thefourth highest run-scorer in the tournament, partnering wicketkeeperShreevats Goswami at the top.India haven’t lost more than five wickets in any of their matches so far in the tournament; however that is not worrying Harris, the Glamorgan fast bowler, Harris, nor are the unfamiliar conditions at the Kinrara Oval. This will be England’s first game here, a venue where India have played all their games. Harris has good reason to be confident because he’s thetournament’s joint-highest wicket-taker – 10 wickets in three games – and is comingoff a five-wicket haul in the game against Bangladesh.”The conditions are a lot tougher [than in England] but our preparation inSri Lanka – to get used to the heat – has been excellent,” Harris said. “Westruggled a bit in Sri Lanka before we got to Malaysia but it’s got betterand better as the tour has gone on. Generally the pitches have hadassistance, more than that was expected, so we’re very happy.”Finn missed the Bangladesh match because of tonsillitis but he’s availablefor Sunday’s game. He echoed his team-mate’s sentiments on the conditions. “The pitches seam around here [in Malaysia], and aren’t too different compared to the early part of the season in England,” he said. “If we can hit our length and bowl aggressively, we can exploit thepitches the same way we do back home.”Finn was part of the England Under-19 team that lost a home series toIndia in 2006, 3-0 in the one-dayers and 1-0 in the Youth Tests. “We lostconvincingly in every game but we’ve come on in leaps and bounds. We’vegot a lot of lads now that played then and we’ve got better as a whole.This year we’ve beaten Pakistan, the [defending U-19] champions, twice.”Pakistan may await them later in the tournament but England’s immediatechallenge is to quell India and how their new-ball attack fares will playa crucial role in the outcome.