Upper Sixth Former Jamie Dunk returned to school a hero earlier this week after a magnificent performance at the ICC U19 World Cup in South Africa.
From his first match against England, where he scored a solid 40, his batting got better and better. Despite Scotland’s early exit from the group stage, Jamie left a notable mark, finishing as the eighth-highest run-scorer in the tournament with an impressive tally of 263 runs in just four matches.
This meant Jamie finished the tournament as Scotland’s highest ever run scorer at an U19 World Cup, despite playing two fewer games than the last leading run scorer.
Jamie’s journey to the World Cup started in July 2023, when he was selected to play for Scotland U19s in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers held in the Netherlands, where he won Player of the Tournament. Jamie’s 255 runs at an impressive average of 85 fired Scotland U19s to the top of the table, securing their progress to the finals.
The winter months leading up to the tournament were put to good use. Jamie attended multiple training camps with the squad to help them prepare as best they could. The training involved strength and conditioning sessions, fitness testing, cricket fundamentals (batting, bowling and fielding) and more specialised sessions on anti-corruption awareness, as well as media training. Interestingly, they also experienced time in heat acclimatisation chambers to help them prepare for the hot climate.
U19 World Cup
Jamie and the Scotland squad arrived in the South African capital, Pretoria, on 4 January for a six-day training camp. This camp included a warm-up game against Namibia, where Jamie scored 75 and helped the team to a comfortable win.
The team also enjoyed a safari trip during this time to see different wildlife up close such as lions, rhinos and giraffes. The safari enabled them to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of South African culture and their passion for these animals.
Jamie and the team then departed from Pretoria to travel to Johannesburg where the official ICC event started. The first day was a media day, which involved a number of signatures, photos and videos being taken. In Johannesburg, they trained at the Wanderers Cricket Ground and played official ICC warm-up fixtures against Nepal and New Zealand, which helped give them an insight into the conditions and standards that were needed in order to be successful at this high-profile tournament.
Following their warm-up fixtures, they travelled to Klerksdorp where their hotel was located for the pool games in Potchefstroom.
Jamie told us, “When we arrived at the JB Marks Oval on 20 January for our match against England, the atmosphere was really surreal as we realised that we had the opportunity to play at world class facilities in front of a crowd and on Sky Sports (an experience which none of us have ever had before). We ended up losing the toss and batting first. I got 40 opening the batting, contributing to a team total of 175 all out. Unfortunately, we lost this match by seven wickets with some strong England batting performances.”
Following this match, the team spent some time coaching for ‘Cricket 4 Good’ (ICC’s global community outreach programme) where they set up a number of drills and games for youngsters between 7 to 15 years old from different backgrounds in South Africa.
Their next match was against the West Indies, where Jamie also opened the batting accumulating a total of 57 to help the team post 205. Afterwards, Jamie completed a post innings interview live on Sky Sports.
Their last pool game was against a strong South African side on home soil on Saturday 27 January. There was great excitement for this game, with a crowd of around 3,000 people and many more watching on Sky Sports. In this match, they batted very well as a team. Jamie put on a Scottish record partnership third wicket stand with Captain Owen Gould. Jamie managed to score 90, helping Scotland post a total of 269. South Africa chased this total with three wickets down, leaving Scotland to play Namibia in the final game. Jamie completed another mid-match interview during this game for the media.
For their final game against Namibia, the team travelled to Benoni. Here, Jamie was interviewed again for Sky Sports to discuss his previous performances. Scotland won the toss and, once again, batted first. In this game, Jamie joint top scored 76, helping the team post 251. They finished the tournament well, with a win in a close game.
Talking of this incredible experience and performance, Jamie told us, “Overall, the tournament has provided me with valuable experience both on and off the field which will leave me with many fantastic memories and learning opportunities.”
While it has been a whirlwind week for Jamie, and we are sure there is more to come in his cricket career, for now it is back to the classroom, and we wish him all the best as he turns his focus to his A-Levels, which he will sit this summer.