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Tom Prest is tapping into the knowledge of England stars past and present as he looks to lead his country to a first ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup final since 1998.
England go into Tuesday’s Super League semi-final against Afghanistan having won all four of their matches in the tournament so far, sweeping past South Africa by six wickets in the last eight having topped Group A.
The Young Lions’ progress has been followed by the senior side, who have just finished a T20 series elsewhere in the Caribbean, while Graeme Swann has also been offering his advice as the current crop look to emulate the achievements of a squad the spinner was part of 24 years ago.
“Before the quarter-final, we had a few messages from the guys out here,” Prest said. “Knowing they are taking an interest and following what we’re doing gives us that extra confidence.
“It would be an unbelievable honour to captain a side in a World Cup final. Graeme Swann [working as part of the media covering the tournament] was playing in the team that won it in ‘98, so he’s chatted to us a couple of times about what it takes to get through tournament cricket.
“He’s just been telling us to continue what we’re doing, not be complacent and compete through the 100 overs, regardless of the score.
“We’ve played some really good, positive cricket in the group games and the quarter-final. It’s been brilliant so far and we came here with the intention of winning the competition, so to get to the final would be amazing.”
Prest has led from the front in England’s campaign to date, compiling scores of 93 and 154 not out in the group stage, while Jacob Bethell starred against South Africa with a brutal 42-ball 88.
With the ball, Rehan Ahmed is again set to play a vital role having taken four wickets in each of his two matches, though Prest knows Afghanistan have spinners of their own who can cause his side problems.
“It will be a great challenge for us, we’ve not played them [Afghanistan] before,” he said. “We’ve seen a bit of footage and they have some good mystery spinners, so it’ll be a good experience.
“We’ve done some good training sessions on methods against spin and hopefully that’ll stand us in good stead.
“Rehan has been huge for us since coming back in, and he’s a great asset for us as he can spin it both ways.
“Jacob’s knock obviously gives him a lot of confidence. He’s been threatening to do something like that for a while and it’s pretty amazing to watch from the sidelines when he’s in that form.”
Afghanistan also head into the last four contest full of confidence having successfully defended 134 in a thrilling four-run quarter-final victory over Sri Lanka.
Noor Ahmad picked up the Player of the Match award after bludgeoning four sixes in his 30 and taking 1 for 20 from 10 miserly overs, with the left-arm spinner one of several dangerous bowlers looking to cause England’s powerful batting line-up problems.
Suliman Safi’s side would become the first ever Afghanistan side to make the final of this competition should they win, going one stage further than the semi-finalists of 1998.
“We have a good bowling attack and our spin is very strong,” Safi said.
“If we get a good total on the board, we feel we can defend it. We’ve had two days of good practice and we are prepared.
“This has been a good experience and a semi-final is a great achievement. Now we are focusing on playing good cricket.”