Fresh off a century against Japan in the ICC U19 Men’s World Cup, Aussie batter Will Malajczuk explains what life is like on the road in Namibia
Life is sweet right now for 18-year-old Western Australian Will Malajczuk.
He’s an easy-going type who doesn’t get caught up in the moment.
As he worked his way to the fastest century in Under-19 World Cup history (102 runs from 55 balls), Malajczuk was casually singing Avicii’s ‘Waiting For Love’.
“On the ground there was a song, I think it was Calvin Harris or Avicii. Monday left me broken, Tuesday I was through with hoping. That was the one that was in my head,” Malajczuk recalled.
Malajczuk’s player-of-the-match performance against Japan was a clear highlight for the 18-year-old, who only recently decided to give up Australian Rules Football after a strong showing for Claremont’s colts team and pursue his cricket dream head-first.
Namibia may be 9,542 kilometres away from Perth, but Malajczuk has had no trouble adjusting.
“I think the temperature and the way it is here in Namibia is pretty close to Perth. I got used to it quickly and it’s a pretty cool place to be,” Malajczuk said.
The start of the trip wasn’t the best, but spirits have been high since.
“On the plane there I actually sat in between two random people, so I got the short straw.”
“I tried to sleep for most of it. I got about six hours and other than that, I just listened to some music.”
The off-days have been eye-opening, with a sunset safari the biggest highlight of the trip so far.
“We got to see a couple of lions, a couple of rhinos, plenty of springboks and a lot of giraffes,” Malajczuk said.
Game days have been an early start, with the team waking up around 6:30am, before boarding the bus to head to the ground at 7:45.
It starts with individual warm-ups before doing a range of fielding drills. Once the toss is completed, the team separates into their roles with the batters and bowlers getting their eyes in before the game.
Malajczuk is sharing a room with Ben Gordon, who he describes as a “pretty quiet character”, but the best part of the hotel set up is the team room.
“We’ve got a pretty good team room going here. We didn’t get an actual ping pong table, but we compiled a ping pong table full of little tables,” Malajczuk said.
“We’ve got the Xbox down here, we’ve got a little golf set-up and a dartboard as well.”
Most of the team have been running games of NBA 2K, with the team room becoming “pretty competitive” when the Xbox starts up.
“Charles Lachmund is pretty good – he gets the better of me. Stevie Hogan is good as well,” said Malajczuk.
Australia’s U19 World Cup fixtures
Jan 16: Australia beat Ireland by 8 wickets
Jan 20: Australia beat Japan by 8 wickets
Jan 23: v Sri Lanka, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
Super Sixes: January 25-February 1
Feb 3: First semi-final, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
Feb 4: Second semi-final, Harare Sports Club, Harare
Feb 6: Final, Harare Sports Club, Harare
Australia squad: Oliver Peake (c, VIC), Kasey Barton (NSW), William Byrom (NSW), Naden Cooray (NSW), Jayden Draper (QLD), Steven Hogan (QLD), Thomas Hogan (ACT), Ben Gordon (QLD), John James (NSW), Charles Lachmund (QLD), Alex Lee-Young (NSW), Will Malajczuk (WA), Nitesh Samuel (NSW), Hayden Schiller (SA), Aryan Sharma (VIC)
All matches start 6:30pm AEDT, and broadcast exclusively live on Prime Video
