By IANS
Dubai : New Zealand opening bowler Tim Southee’s remarkable performance has fetched him the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award in the Under-19 World Cup.
Southee has been the stand-out bowler of the event, claiming 17 wickets in five matches with his consistent line and length. He finished on 11 points despite having played one game fewer than some of his rivals.
“I played in the last U-19 WC in Sri Lanka and it did not go as well as I would have liked. I thought long and hard about what happened there in planning for this tournament,” Southee said in an Internationl Cricket Council release Monday.
“I decided not to do anything different, just stick to a simple game plan of concentrating on length. I thought that if I did this, the low and slow nature of the wickets would make it difficult to score and that would put added pressure on the batsmen.
Southee faced stiff competition from Sri Lanka’s talented batsman Sachith Pathirana, who ended with nine points. Another point further back was Nepal’s captain Paras Khadka and victorious Indian team skipper Virat Kohli.
The award could have landed in Kohli’s laps had he won the man of the match in the final in which India beat South Africa by 12-runs Sunday.