Robinson hopes that England lessons will provide lasting benefit

The Sussex coach Mark Robinson will have had time to reflect on the ICC Under-19 World Cup experience after England's early return from New Zealand. In their absence the Antarctic wind dropped for the first time and sunshine bathed Christchurch in warmth as Australia beat Pakistan by 25 runs in the final at Lincoln University on Saturday.

Judging from the quality seen in the final, England could probably not have matched the maturity of the Australians if they had progressed beyond the quarter-finals. The New South Wales seamer Josh Hazlewood looked ready for international cricket, and left-armer Luke Doran showed that spinners could make their mark with three crucial upper order wickets.

If England had restricted Australia to 207 on a perfect 'cricket' strip, they would have fancied their chances, as Pakistan did, but summoning enough composure and skill under pressure might not have happened. Even Pakistan, winners of every game until then, cracked when they lost their kingpin Muhammad Babar Azam, snicking a cut, and Muhammad Waqas, unluckily caught at short third man off the wicketkeeper's boot.

The bottom line for England, as Robinson conceded, was the failure to score runs among the top order -- a weakness that blighted many teams, including Australia in the final. James Vince, highly rated at Hampshire, finished with 192 runs in his six tournament innings as England's top run-maker. After his 76 against Hong Kong, each subsequent visit produced a diminishing score. His total compared poorly with 391 from the Johannesburg left-hand basher Dominic Hendricks and 335 by the Barbados opener Kraigg Brathwaite, the batsman of the tournament in my opinion.

Seam bowlers not surprisingly dominated in responsive conditions. Nathan Buck, of Leicestershire, carried his responsibility as senior man very well and finished second in the wickets with 13. At the top was Ray Haoda, who took most of his 15 for Papua New Guinea against lesser Plate batsmen. Equal with Buck were Chatura Peiris, a Sri Lankan left-armer, and Graham Hume, of South Africa. Jason Holder, 6ft 7in, a very bright prospect, finished with 12. David Payne, Buck's new-ball partner, took 10.

Robinson found that a big difference between coaching at a county club such as Sussex and guiding an under-19 group was the absence of senior players to pass on experience and good habits. He and his Sussex assistant Carl Hopkinson would have liked much more time with their charges, perhaps a full two-year cycle rather than a couple of months.

"If I had a wish list as a coach of this team," he said after the final match, "we would go back, do some more work and then we would go and play some more games. In an ideal cycle, whatever lesson you learnt, you go back and practice, talk about it and then play some more games and improve that way. That's how you grow a team over time."

The most impressive part of this England squad was fanatical ground fielding -- Chris Dent excelled here -- generally safe catching and a good spirit. Robinson said: "We got the team open and accepting working to the level we wanted, but it was a little bit too late to a degree. Even s,o there's a big picture here.

"Who knows what would have happened if we had beaten the West Indies, but we didn't. And once that dream is over we have to make sure all the lessons have been learnt for individuals to take back to their counties to make them better cricketers and perhaps even better people."

Robinson said he was surprised at how upset he and Hopkinson felt after the 18-run West Indies defeat at Rangiora. "I said to the boys I didn't expect to feel as much for them as I did, because I hadn't been around them that long. But it felt as if Sussex had lost. That's not meant to be condescending -- it's a compliment, as Hoppo and I got really attached to them. We had got to the stage when they were giving everything and working so hard. I felt so sorry for them because their effort and attitude deserved more.

"Equally there's another lesson to be learnt, in that effort and attitude isn't enough alone. That should just be the first guarantee that you can achieve -- committing everything physically and mentally. When you get that, it's a foundation you can build upon.

"From the coach's point of view you have to deal with a different type of people. Players from different clubs with different attitudes with different perceptions how things should be done. And obviously at a very young age. There are big differences in maturity. That has been a challenge of how to pitch things and get it right. I'm sure there'll be some things I got right and some I got quite badly wrong."

"I hope that the legacy this team will leave behind for future under-19 teams is the work effort and desire to succeed."

Playing and training in New Zealand proved little different from England, though the cold wind was taxing at times. For spectators, the seaming pitches came as a welcome contrast to the canon fodder scenerio that one-day cricket can so often produce. Not that one would expect a coach to agree.

Robinson countered: "The frustrating thing is that ideally one-day cricket is meant to be played on good wickets where your tactics are trying to exploit the first 15 overs powerplay. But because of the poor weather, like England in early April, the pitches did too much and you have to adapt. Our last two games weren't like that, but the majority were. We all came over here expecting the wickets in New Zealand to be a bit more like England than the subcontinent, but not to be as seamer-friendly as they were. We had to get batters to survive those first few overs."

It could certainly be said that the ECB decision to make Azeem Raiq captain restricted selection options and affected the balance of the side in such seam-friendly conditions. The Yorkshire all-rounder was only the second-best spinner behind Danny Briggs and he batted down at seven, but Robinson was full of praise for his contribution as a leader.

"I can't speak more highly of him as captain," he said. "He has led from the front and he took decisions upon himself and didn't look for the coach as back-up. He was his own man, which was admirable. You want people prepared to take strong decisions for themselves -- they might not aways be the best decisions, but that's how they learn."

Robbo's Gang will be remembered as the first England side to beat India. That at least is a tangible achievement. The lessons from the setbacks in New Zealand will be even more valuable -- for those who want to absorb them.

ENGLAND UNDER-19
Joe Root (Yorks), Chris Dent (Gloucs), Jos Buttler (Somerset, wkt), James Vince (Hants), Jack Manuel (Worcs), Ateeq Javid (Warwicks), Ben Stokes (Durham), Michael Bates (Hants, wkt), Azeem Rafiq (Yorks, capt), Paul Best (Warwicks), Danny Briggs (Hants), Adam Ball (Kent), David Payne (Gloucs), Nathan Buck (Leics), Matthew Dunn (Surrey).

Coach: Mark Robinson (Sussex). Assistant coach: Carl Hopkinson (Sussex). Manager: John Abrahams.