Richard Edwards looks back at the U19 World Cup of 1998, one in which England upset the odds to lift the trophy

English cricket wasn’t in the best of shape by the time the 1998 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa rolled around.
The full side were in the midst of a Test series in the West Indies that would end in a thorough 3-1 hiding – par for the course for a team that hadn’t won a five Test series since the 1986/87 Ashes.
Things were hardly more rosy for an U19 side that had just found itself soundly beaten by South Africa shortly before the tournament began.
The favourit...