11 Feb 2016

Sport: Fiji cricketers bid to avoid wooden spoon

12:37 pm on 11 February 2016

Fiji have one last chance to break their win-duck at the Under 19 Cricket World Cup.

The Melanesians and Canada have both lost five successive matches and the loser of Thurday's 15th place playoff will end the tournament with the dreaded wooden spoon.

Fiji coach Shane Jurgensen said there's no shortage of motivation.

"The boys will be pretty fired up for this one because there was a small little incident that happened at the hotel, earlier in the tournament, where we didn't have such a good game against South Africa so they boys might be fired up to do really well in this game...but I would like to give a couple of guys that haven't played so far an opportunity to play, but at the same time I don't want to take away the strengths of the side that we've got because I need to make sure we want to win this game. Any international game of cricket is important so it would be nice to give these guys a go and finish up with a win at the same time."

Shane Jurgensen said Fiji have been improving with each game but need to build partnerships with the bat and not give away so many extras with the ball.

The Fiji Under 19 team at the World Cup in Bangladesh.

The Fiji Under 19 team at the World Cup in Bangladesh. Photo: Cricket Fiji