Banner image photo credit: Cricket Scotland and Getty Images.
What a week it has been for Upper Sixth Former Jamie Dunk, who stepped out to make his world cup debut for Scotland in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup and impressed the cricketing world with 40 runs in the first match against England and 57 against the West Indies in the second.
Photo credit: Cricket Scotland
In addition to this impressive start, Jamie has been praised by cricket professionals and pundits for being one of the hardest workers seen on the cricket circuit with an “incredible desire to learn and get better”.
Jamie was selected for the Scotland U19 team back in July last year and soon proved his worth when he scored 255 runs at an average of 85, scooping the Player of the Tournament award in the qualifiers, which saw the Scotland team secure their place in the finals.
The finals were originally due to be held in Sri Lanka but were switched to South Africa after the ICC provisionally banned Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) due to Government interference, although that ban has since been lifted.
Scotland’s first match of the competition was against England and, although Scotland lost, Jamie gave a solid performance with 40 runs, finishing as third highest scorer. Sky Sports’ commentator told viewers during the match, “This is an excellent start for Jamie” and went on to share former England Cricketer Phil DeFreitas’ initial comments about Jamie,
“He’s a hard worker and always willing to learn, and that’s what you want.”
Two days later, the U19 team faced the West Indies. This time Jamie scored a superb 57 to which Leicestershire’s Head of Talent Pathway Jigar Naik said,
“Jamie’s one of the hardest workers I’ve seen and has an incredible desire to get better.”
Not a bad start for the rising star who told us at the time of selection, “Qualifying for the ICC U19 World Cup is a dream come true.”
Director of Cricket Mr Gary Steer also reinforces Jamie’s hard-working attitude, “Jamie Dunk is one of the hardest working cricketers I have had the pleasure of working with and he fully deserves the opportunity to play in the U19 World Cup for Scotland. He looks forward to every opportunity to practise or play and, without doubt, his batting, fielding and bowling have developed whilst he has been at Bedford School. Jamie scored over 1,000 runs last season for the school. He also took vital wickets with his accurate medium pace and was excellent in the field. However, his passion, enthusiasm and tactical awareness have also been a huge benefit to all who played with him last season and he will be a big player again for the 1st XI this summer. It was fantastic to see him score 40 in Scotland’s first game against a very strong England team and, hopefully, his good form will continue throughout the tournament.”
As we write, Jamie is preparing for Scotland’s third, and possibly last match of the tournament against South Africa tomorrow at 8.00am. You can tune into Sky Sports to watch it live or follow the match via the Cricket Scotland website.