Antigua: England captain Tom Prest said it had been “amazing” to test “ourselves against the best payers”, adding that the performance of his boys in the U-19 ICC Cricket World Cup final against India should make them proud.
Riding on an all-round performance from Raj Bawa, who claimed five wickets in the final at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here Sunday night (IST), India lifted their fifth U-19 ICC Cricket World Cup in 22 years defeating England by four wickets.
Prest, who has been a prolific run-getter in the tournament but was bowled for a duck by Ravi Kumar in the final, said after the loss: “It’s been amazing to test ourselves against the best players who are of our age. I think we’ve done ourselves proud and we’ve put in some great performances so I couldn’t be prouder of the boys.”
Prest said that he had hoped for a better start batting first, adding that James Rew, who missed a century by just five runs, deserved to get one.
“Obviously choosing to bat first, we would have liked a better start, but the way James Rew then batted to get is 95, I think he deserved 100 and then we got to a score that we felt were kind of in the game with and I think we gave that a good crack.”
He gave credit to the India batters for earning them victory on Sunday.
“We’ve got a strong bowling attack, and then taking a wicket in the first over, that kind of got the mood up and got some confidence going. They (India) obviously batted really well; they had a couple of great partnerships, so credit to them,” added Prest.
He said it had been a great and memorable tournament for England.
“It’s been amazing. We’ve all really enjoyed it, not only the cricket, but the media exposure that we’ve got, doing kind of interviews like this. It’s something that we’ll never forget and we’re very proud of our achievements in it.
“It’s been incredible (support back home). Quite a few of our parents have actually come out and flown over to support but friends and family back home and different schools and everyone’s just got behind us and it’s been amazing,” added Prest.
IANS