2018 U-19 World Cup: Instances when reigning champions were ousted in the first round
Reigning U19 World Champions West Indies have ended their group stage at the U19 World Cup by thumping Kenya by 222 runs. A brilliant century from Alick Athanaze and a five-wicket haul from spinner Bhaskar Yadram helped the Caribbeans to a win without breaking a sweat.
However, this win wasn’t enough for West Indies to cross the group stages as they had already been beaten in their first two games by hosts New Zealand and South Africa. They will now play against Ireland in the Plate League quarter-finals.
As a matter of fact, West Indies aren’t the only defending champions of the U19 World Cup who have failed to cross the first hurdle. There have been three previous instances in the competition’s 30-year old history when the defending champs were eliminated in the first round. Let’s take a look at them.
South Africa in 2000
In their first appearance at the U19 World Cup in 1998, South Africa lifted the trophy on home soil. They were one of the favourites in the 2000 U19 World Cup in Sri Lanka and were pooled alongside Pakistan, Kenya and Nepal.
However, as with the 1992 World Cup semi-final, rain washed the Proteas away from the tournament. In their opening match against Nepal at Katunayake, South Africa scored 295/5 from their 50 overs thanks to a smashing 156 from Jacques Rudolph and a 74 from future skipper Graeme Smith.
The Nepal batting did not even stand a chance during the run chase as they were 24/4 after 12 overs. However, rain played spoilsport and the match was eventually called off. This deprived South Africa of a comprehensive and well-deserved victory.
Both of South Africa’s remaining group games against Pakistan and Kenya at Kurunegala were abandoned without any play and Nepal’s narrow win over Kenya got them through to the next round along with Pakistan.
South Africa then went on to play in the plate competition where they won all their group matches convincingly against Americas, Netherlands and Ireland. Cruelly, two of those matches were held at Kurunegala.
The Proteas went on to win both the plate semi-final and final against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh respectively to finish the tournament on a winning note. Graeme Smith ended the competition as the highest run-scorer with 348 runs at an average of 87.