Australia's Tom Straker wreaked havoc in the Pakistan camp as the pace bowler dismantled the batting lineup of the Saad Baig-led side in the second semifinal of the U19 World Cup 2024 in Benoni. The 18-year-old right-arm pacer scalped six wickets with a blend of short and fuller deliveries with great effect in Willowmoore Park. The Aussie youngster has shattered a massive world record in the process.
Straker has broken Kagiso Rabada's 10-year-old record of the best bowling figures in a U19 World Cup semifinal or a final. Straker ended the inning with figures of 6/24 in his 9.5 overs to create this record. Before this Rabada has the best bowling figures in a semifinal or a final of the tournament. Rabada produced figures of 6/25 in the semifinal of the 2014 U19 World Cup against Pakistan U19.
Best bowling figures in U19 World Cup semifinals:
Tom Straker: 6/24
Kagiso Rabada: 6/25
Abu Nechim: 4/14
Rehan Ahmed: 4/41
Avishkar Fernando: 4/43
Notably, Straker's performance was the cornerstone of Australia restricting the Pakistan side to 179. He used the short-of-a-length deliveries to great effect removing key batters Shamyl Hussain and Azan Awais. He mixed the deliveries well too and got the Pakistan skipper Saad Baig on a delivery that was full to outfoax the batter.
Straker removed Ubaid Shah on another short-length ball which got big on the batter and then removed the tail-enders with with fuller balls at stumps. For Pakistan, Azan Awais and Arafat Minhas top-scored with 52 runs each to their name.
