The historic edition of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Under-19 Women’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup is now only a couple of sleeps away, and with well over 150 players set to contest in the junior girls’ ICC tournament, below we’ve listed out names of 5 players you don’t want to risk missing out on during the mega ICC spectacle.
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Hurley Gala (India)
The 16-year-old all-rounder hails from Mumbai, India, and has emerged as a core player in the Indian middle order. Hurley Tanmay Gala is handy lower down the order as she chips in with quick runs and is consistent with the ball in hand.
Hurley Gala in the lead-up to the South Africa World Cup, against New Zealand bagged 7 wickets across 4 Twenty20 (T20) games having registered figures of 3/18, 3/18, 1/5, and 0/12. The series also saw Gala chip in with runs on 2 occasions wherein she scored 13 and 21. Against South Africa, in the away series, Gala registered figures of 1/13, 0/11, and 1/4 across 3 games and with the bat, put on 11*, 7*, and 1.
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Fran Jonas (New Zealand)
The 18-year-old is a capped, New Zealand senior women’s team player and bowls, slow left-arm orthodox. Frances Cecilia Jonas made 12 appearances for White Ferns and bagged 13 wickets at an average of 13.46, an economy rate of 4.08, and a strike rate of 19.7 with the best figures of 3/16.
Fran in her lead-up to the event featured in the New Zealand domestic, Women’s Super Smash where she in 3 innings, registered figures of 0/26, 2/29, and 3/20.
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Aroob Shah (Pakistan)
The 19-year-old, Pakistan leg spinner also happens to be a capped international. Syeda Aroob Shah in 5 Twenty20 International (T20I) outings bagged 3 wickets and in her lone One-Day International outing struck a couple.
Aroob Shah in the lead-up to the mega ICC event featured across all of the tournaments organized by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and in the U-19 World Cup warm-up game against Ireland bagged a couple of wickets at an economy rate of 2.75 off her 4 overs.
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Samaira Dharnidharka (UAE)
The 15-year-old, Indian-origin, United Arab Emirates (UAE) all-rounder, in 11 innings with the bat has scored 84 runs at an average of 10.50, a strike rate of 64.61, and has got the highest score of 12*. With the ball, in 24 innings, she’s picked up 19 wickets at an average of 16.68, an economy rate of 5.25, a strike rate of 19.0 and has registered the best figures of 4/5.
Samaira Dharnidharka hasn’t had the best of starts to her campaign in South Africa as she managed to score just 4 runs against Sri Lanka in the warm-up, but did well with the ball having registered figures of 0/10 off 3 overs.
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Amy Hunter (Ireland)
The 17-year-old, Irish batter has represented the Ireland women’s team at the top level on 11 occasions which sees her with 216 runs in the format, holds an average of 21.60, a strike rate of 91.91, and the highest score of 43.
In the lead-up to the tournament, Amy Hunter played 3 T20I’s against Pakistan in an away series and scored 36 and 40 in the 2nd and 3rd T20Is bettering her 1 from the opener. The opener in the sides, World Cup warm-up game against Pakistan U-19 scored a 15-ball 13.
There are many more such names in Australia’s Claire Moore and Ella Hayward, New Zealand’s Anna Browning, England’s, Ryana MacDonald-Gay and Sophia Smale, and many more who fittingly fall under the ‘player to watch out’ category and this should ensure us of a quality cricketing tournament is in the waiting to unfold.
