TIM TECTOR won’t be returning home from Trinidad with silverware after his team were well beaten by the United Arab Emirates in the Plate final on Monday but the Ireland captain will know his squad overachieved by finishing 10th in the U19 World Cup.

Not a lot was expected of the class of ‘22 yet with individuals standing up at key moments and a noticeable unity pushing them forward, Tector’s team equalled Ireland’s best finish in the biennial tournament, matching the efforts of Paul Stirling, Andy Balbirnie et al in 2010.

The most consistent performer of the group was Matthew Humphreys, a left-arm spinner from Lisburn in the Northern Union who has the potential to kick on to the senior level, along with middle-order batsmen Tector and Philippe le Roux.

Tector, the third brother after Jack and Harry to captain the U19s, struggled for runs but showed his class and temperament in steering`Ireland to victory over Zimbabwe in the Plate semi-final, while Le Roux’s busy 83 not out was crucial in the quarter-final defeat of Canada.

Reuben Wilson, a tall 15-year-old from the YMCA club, impressed with his late movement and is the most exciting seam bowling prospect since Josh Little burst on to the scene while Muzamil Sherzad was joint leading wicket-taker with Humphreys.

The old man of the squad, in terms of life experience, Sherzad claimed 11 victims, including 5-20 against Zimbabwe but the Afghan refugee probably lacks both the height and a yard of pace for higher honours.

Cricket Ireland’s controversial inclusion of two passport-qualified South Africans in the squad looked to be a masterstroke when Josh Cox scored a century against Uganda in the first game, but he failed to reach double figures in his last four innings and Liam Doherty was a disappointment.

Will lessons be learned from the experiment?

The development of young players relies so much on parents both to fund equipment and in the time required to ferry kids to games and nets that it might be politic to restrict future squads to home grown teenagers.

The case of Curtis Campher, who has nailed down a place in the senior Ireland team after representing South Africa at U19 shows that early exposure is not a requirement and is probably not worth the upset it causes.

WORLD CUP AVERAGES

TOP WICKET TAKERS

# Name Club Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 5WI 10WM wds nbs Wkts
1 Muzamil Sherzad Ireland 5 33.1 3 174 11 5-20 15.82 5.25 18.09 1 - 6 - 11
2 MJ Humphreys Ireland 6 56 3 246 11 4-25 22.36 4.39 30.55 - - 6 - 11
3 J Forbes Ireland 6 49.2 1 198 6 2-2 33.00 4.01 49.33 - - 6 - 6
4 R Wilson Ireland 4 26 3 114 5 3-18 22.80 4.38 31.20 - - 15 - 5
5 LC Doherty Ireland 6 33 - 186 4 2-60 46.50 5.64 49.50 - - 8 4 4
6 NJ McGuire Ireland 6 46 3 210 4 2-13 52.50 4.57 69.00 - - 5 - 4
7 SJ Macbeth Ireland 6 5 - 40 1 1-34 40.00 8.00 30.00 - - - - 1

TOP RUNS

# Name Club Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 0 4s 6s Runs
1 PD le Roux Ireland 6 5 1 165 83* 41.25 252 65.48 - 1 - 20 - 165
2 JV Cox Ireland 6 6 1 150 111* 30.00 195 76.92 1 - 2 12 2 150
3 JM Dickson Ireland 4 4 1 132 78* 44.00 205 64.39 - 1 1 10 5 132
4 Tim H Tector Ireland 6 6 1 112 76* 22.40 170 65.88 - 1 - 10 1 112
5 NJ McGuire Ireland 6 6 - 102 42 17.00 121 84.30 - - - 13 2 102
6 SJ Macbeth Ireland 6 5 - 77 32 15.40 114 67.54 - - - 5 3 77
7 MJ Humphreys Ireland 6 5 1 63 38 15.75 81 77.78 - - 1 11 - 63
8 David M Vincent Ireland 4 4 - 42 24 10.50 99 42.42 - - - 4 - 42
9 J Forbes Ireland 6 5 1 41 25 10.25 94 43.62 - - 1 3 1 41
10 LC Doherty Ireland 6 5 - 25 13 5.00 60 41.67 - - 2 2 - 25
11 Muzamil Sherzad Ireland 5 4 1 15 13 5.00 33 45.45 - - 1 1 - 15
12 LJ Whelan Ireland 1 1 - 14 14 14.00 25 56.00 - - - 1 - 14
13 R Wilson Ireland 4 3 1 3 2 1.50 15 20.00 - - - - - 3

TOUR AVERAGES

TOP WICKET TAKERS

# Name Club Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 5WI 10WM wds nbs Wkts
1 NJ McGuire Ireland 12 100 12 374 21 5-33 17.81 3.74 28.57 1 - 12 - 21
2 MJ Humphreys Ireland 11 103.1 8 411 21 5-37 19.57 3.98 29.48 1 - 25 - 21
3 Muzamil Sherzad Ireland 9 57.1 3 267 15 5-20 17.80 4.67 22.87 1 - 10 - 15
4 R Wilson Ireland 7 44 4 200 12 5-21 16.67 4.55 22.00 1 - 20 - 12
5 J Forbes Ireland 11 92.2 2 374 10 2-2 37.40 4.05 55.40 - - 12 - 10
6 LC Doherty Ireland 11 61 1 301 6 2-26 50.17 4.93 61.00 - - 8 7 6
7 DW Burke Ireland 4 11 - 76 2 1-13 38.00 6.91 33.00 - - 13 - 2
8 SJ Macbeth Ireland 10 7 - 44 1 1-34 44.00 6.29 42.00 - - - - 1
9 D Forkin Ireland 4 14 - 75 1 1-21 75.00 5.36 84.00 - - 6 1 1
10 David M Vincent Ireland 9 4 - 15 - 0-15 - 3.75 - - - - - 0
11 R Millar Ireland 2 5.2 - 35 - 0-15 - 6.56 - - - 1 - 0

TOP RUNS

# Name Club Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 0 4s 6s Runs
1 Tim H Tector Ireland 12 12 1 339 94 30.82 465 72.90 - 3 - 24 7 339
2 JV Cox Ireland 11 11 3 298 111* 37.25 484 61.57 1 - 2 22 4 298
3 PD le Roux Ireland 11 9 1 213 83* 26.62 343 62.10 - 1 1 23 - 213
4 JM Dickson Ireland 9 9 1 168 78* 21.00 299 56.19 - 1 1 14 5 168
5 David M Vincent Ireland 9 9 1 160 51* 20.00 340 47.06 - 1 - 14 - 160
6 NJ McGuire Ireland 12 11 - 112 42 10.18 150 74.67 - - 3 13 3 112
7 SJ Macbeth Ireland 10 8 - 102 32 12.75 156 65.38 - - 1 5 5 102
8 MJ Humphreys Ireland 11 9 2 76 38 10.86 122 62.30 - - 2 12 - 76
9 LC Doherty Ireland 11 10 - 67 17 6.70 124 54.03 - - 3 7 - 67
10 J Forbes Ireland 11 9 2 46 25 6.57 134 34.33 - - 3 3 1 46
11 LJ Whelan Ireland 4 4 - 42 18 10.50 85 49.41 - - - 1 - 42
12 Muzamil Sherzad Ireland 9 7 1 16 13 2.67 38 42.11 - - 3 1 - 16
13 R Millar Ireland 2 2 - 8 7 4.00 23 34.78 - - - - 1 8
14 R Wilson Ireland 7 5 2 5 2 1.67 24 20.83 - - - - - 5
15 DW Burke Ireland 4 2 1 4 3 4.00 14 28.57 - - - - - 4