England thrive on Mahmood's pace and Mason's chokehold

England Under-19s have been one of the more exciting sides at the ongoing Under-19 World Cup. Jack Burnham and fast bowler Saqib Mahmood are the highest scorer and wicket-taker respectively in the tournament thus far while batsman Dan Lawrence, pacer Sam Curran and legspinner Mason Crane have also turned heads with their performances.

As a fast bowler trying to take wickets in batting-friendly conditions in Chittagong, Mahmood has been a revelation. He took 11 wickets in the three group matches, including two four-fors against West Indies and Zimbabwe, and has shown the ability to move the ball late at decent pace, an important skill in Bangladesh conditions.

Guidance from Stuart Barnes, the team's bowling coach who also coached Bangladesh A a couple of years ago, and a focus on variations and attacking the stumps have made the difference, according to Mahmood.

"Stuart Barnes told us which area is the most effective for the seamer in training before we came here and I just practise that and hope that the odd ball does something off the seam or naturally," Mahmood said. "It's been successful because I have been asking questions and I think also because my partner [Sam Curran] at the other end does the same thing. He has been creating pressure for me to take wickets.

"Once the batsman has seen past the new ball, when the ball is not doing a great deal you have to rely on change of pace. Variation makes it hard for him to score. It's more about line here because you can't give width to the batsman as he will throw his arm around then. Instead if you are attacking the stump always, it's definitely harder to score and that's what I have been doing and getting wickets because of my consistency of bowling at the line of the stumps."

Mahmood idolizes England pacer Jimmy Anderson, whom he has met a few times as both are from Lancashire: "He is not around [in Lancashire] a great deal. A lot of people say that he is only effective in England but he used his variations in the UAE. Reverse swing and he used the crease to good effect, and that's the kind of things you look at and learn from guys like him."

Crane's emergence at Hampshire in the last county season garnered plenty of attention. The legspinner has taken 10 first-class wickets in three games for Hampshire, including a five-for. When wickets have not been forthcoming, he has relied on consistency and economy. In this World Cup, he has taken two wickets but is the team's most miserly bowler, with an economy rate of 3.43 in the 23 overs he has bowled so far. Crane stated that on tracks without assistance, he adjusts quickly and tries to build up pressure through dot balls.

"So first of all at the top of my mark I am going to ask myself how I am going to get this guy out, how am I going to get a wicket here?" Crane told ESPNcricinfo. "If I am not going to get a wicket, how I will bowl a dot ball. Those sort of things go through my mind. You try to plan who you are going to bowl at in the over, and try to work out from there.

"[What has worked for me here are] the paces I have bowled, and the lengths that we have worked on in the last year or two. We have spent a bit of time in sub-continental conditions so we are used to it now. Hopefully I can take it forward to the next game."

Crane did not take up cricket until the 2005 Ashes and, when he did, it began with legspin, inspired by Shane Warne. He has never tried any other type of bowling.

"I didn't take up cricket until the 2005 Ashes when I saw Shane Warne bowl," Crane said. "So when I started playing, that's what came out. I never bowled anything else. From the very first session I have had in cricket, I bowled legspin.

"I just found it the easiest. It came out very nicely. I saw Shane Warne bowl and it was so exciting, I wanted to be like that. You do [try out his action] when you are young and then you realise he is unbelievably good and not everyone can be like him. I have obviously had to become myself, really, and that's what I will try to do from now on."

Crane, who has been coached by Ian Salisbury, Raj Maru and Daniel Flint at various levels, believes that legspin has enough variations to suit a bowler who can give it a rip. Despite being a novelty, as an English legspinner, he wants to take things one step at a time, so the current goal is to help England win the Under-19 World Cup.

"The beauty of legspin is the number of variations you can bowl. You can get good revs on it, which is probably the most important thing," Crane said. "There are legspinners across the world who also bowl quite straight and use different variations of spin. You can get variations out of the pitch and do different things to confuse the batsmen.

"It excites me but it is important to remember that I am 19 years old. I got a long way to go. It is important to keep focus on the World Cup, get us over the line and get back the trophy for the lads. For now I am focusing on this until I go back to my county."