Harare, Jan 21 (IANS) Ben Mayes made history by setting the highest individual score by an England player at the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, scoring 191 runs from only 117 balls against Scotland in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Wednesday.
Mayes’ score was also the joint second-highest of all time in U-19 World Cup history, tying with Sri Lanka’s Hasitha Boyagoda and just one short of the world record set by Viran Chamuditha, who achieved this record earlier in the tournament against Japan.
Mayes came in to bat after England lost Ben Dawkins early and quickly started attacking the opposition. Along with Joe Moores, Mayes launched an aggressive partnership, achieving an 188-run stand in roughly 22 overs.
The 18-year-old Mayes played a leading role in the partnership, consistently overpowering the opposing bowlers. During his innings, he hit 18 boundaries and eight sixes, thoroughly dismantling the Scottish bowling attack.
His performance helped England reach 404/6 against Scotland, marking the sixth-highest score in ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup history and the highest of the tournament so far.
“I wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen this morning. I just tried to take it a ball at a time. Really well helped by Morsi (Moores), and people chipping in with Rew and Caleb as well. It helped, kept me in the moment,” Mayes said after England’s innings.
Speaking of his record knock, he said, “No other words for it. It feels amazing (talking about his knock). As a team, we’ve tried to identify areas where we can score best, bowlers we can target. The whole team did that well today, not only me. Strong wind, short boundaries. We used that to our advantage. It’s brilliant.”
When asked about his notable partnerships in the middle, Mayes said, “He (Moores) and Rew are my favourite two people to bat with. You see all the shots he plays. I’m down the other end going, mate, it’s unbelievable. It’s really fun. We try to keep it light, pretty jokey, and have a good time. Even though we lost the toss, it’s quite a good wicket to bowl second on. There’ll be a bit of turn in the second innings, like there was when we played Zimbabwe on it.”
“It’s the same message as always – hit the stumps as much as possible with a bit of variable bounce. That should help us defend the score,” he said for the bowlers who now look to defend the 405-run target set by the English side.
–IANS
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