By Rajiv Bisnauth

WEST Indies recovered from losing their first three matches on tour, all to Bangladesh, then their first in the ICC Under-19 World Cup tournament to England by 61 runs, before going on a run that would land the region a first world title at the Under-19 level.After the defeat to England, they crushed minnows Fiji by 262 runs before eking out a narrow two-run win over Zimbabwe in controversial circumstances in their final group game to reach the quarter-finals.
West Indies then produced clinical run chases to beat Pakistan by five wickets and Bangladesh by two wickets in the semi-finals to clinch their spot in the final against previously unbeaten India Under-19s.
However, in an invited comment recently, captain Berbician Shimron Hetmyer said the win was a total team effort, adding that “it’s a very good feeling, to be the first captain from the West Indies to win the Under-19 World Cup”.
“It’s not only my performance or anyone in particular but a whole team coming together to give us that complete performance. It feels great of course being part of a World Cup-winning squad as we went there to win,” he noted.
Hetymer added “Before we left the Caribbean to go there we thought that the pitches would not have been much different from those in the Caribbean but when we played our first practice game and even in the net sessions we found that the pitches were mostly green and had some bounce and pace as well.”
The West Indies became the second cricket-playing nation to win every trophy in world cricket when they won the ICC Under-19 World Cup, beating India by five wickets last February 14.
It was the first major title for the West Indies at any level since Darren Sammy’s senior team won the ICC Twenty20 in Sir Lanka in 2012. The West Indies added the Under-19 title to the senior World Cup titles (1975 & 1979), the Costcutter Under-15 title (2000) and Champions Trophy (2012).