Divyansh Saxena’s century goes in vain as England U-19 defeat India U-19
England U-19 showed tremendous grit to chase down a reduced total in what was a rain-marred match after Divyansh Saxena’s ton and a quickfire half-century by Tilak Verma had helped India set a good target. Dan Mousley turned out to be the hero of the home team as they ended the tournament on a high.
England U-19 managed to eke out what was only their second victory in the U-19 tri-series as a late surge saw them chase down the target with four balls remaining and eight wickets to spare. However, it wasn't enough to earn them a spot in the finals, as Bangladesh topped the group followed by India in the second spot. The two Asian countries will meet in the final on Sunday.
Winning the toss, India chose to bat at the Kent County Cricket Ground in Beckenham. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal fell early to the new ball and just when number three batsman Pragnesh Kanpillewar seemed to have got his eye in, he hit the ball straight to Finlay Bean off Joey Evison’s bowling. Skipper Priyam Garg scored a well-paced half-century while Jaiswal slowly built up the innings as their 108-run stand for the third wicket put India in a good position for a late flourish from the middle order.
With just eight overs to go, Sameer Rizvi's wicket allowed Tilak Varma to come in and turn the game on its head. He smashed the ball all around the park as he ended up with a score of 52 runs off just 25 balls, laced with five fours and three huge sixes. The team ended up scoring 75 runs in the last eight overs even though wickets kept falling, as Saxena completed his century to propel the Men in Blue to a total of 278/8. Evison and skipper George Balderson finished with three scalps each.
Coming in to bat, English openers Ben Charlseworth and Tom Clark got off to a good start as the former narrowly missed out on a half-century after the pair had put up a stand of 62 runs for the first wicket. India struggled to pick up a wicket thereon but kept the run rate in check, as the hosts needed 111 off the last 12 overs when rain stopped play.
As play resumed a few minutes later, the revised target had been brought down to 214 but with only four overs to go. Mousley broke the shackles and took off, as he hit Prabhat Maurya for a six followed by a boundary to accumulate 15 runs in the 39th over. The onslaught continued and by the time Tom Clark fell for 66, it was already too late. Mousley ended with a score of 74 off 80 balls and earn his team a deserved victory.
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