Second Semi-Final, U19 World Cup
I had my headline ready for you: ‘England pay heavy Price’
I was absolutely right till the fourth ball of the 18th over of the Australian innings. At the start of the 17th they needed 8 to win two wickets left. Time to recall Hannah Baker. First ball 4! Then a dot. Milly Illingworth skied the next ball to mid-off, dropped! But Ryana Macdonald-Gay’s throw hit the stumps direct – run out on review! Next two are plays-and-miss, followed by a dot ball. One of the more remarkable overs you’re likely to witness.
18th over, 4 to win, 1 wicket left. Who’s to bowl? The England skipper does the honourable thing and takes the ball. Three deliveries are defended out on to the off-side. Fourth ball, a swing and miss. Owzat!
The umpire takes her time, then raises a finger. England win by three runs amid intolerable tension.
Now back to the start
The toss was hardly needed. Grace Scrivens won it yet again and chose to bat. She comes close to a world record in this exclusive area of the game.
But for the first time England were up against a demanding attack
Things went badly wrong for them. When Scrivens was nearly run-out off the first ball, you could sense all wss not well. More aggressive shots misfired, calling into question the English strategy of all-out attack. Sure enough, in the third over Libby Heap aimed a wild sweep and was caught at third man. Niahm Holland followed her, well taken behind off Maggie Clark, who picked up her tenth wicket overall.
No sooner had Seren Smale charmed the crowd with an elegant cover-drive than she attempted a quite unnecessary reverse and was lbw to Ella Hayward’s off-spin. Three balls later Ryana Macdonald-Gay missed with an angled bat to give Hayward another wicket. (28-4). Charis Pavely was caught hitting in the air, and Sophia Smale offered Hayward her third, lbw again.
When Scrivens slightly mistimed a lofted drive to be caught at long-off, you could see the tension had reached even the calmest team-member.
45-7 was rewriting the story of this tournament.
Now came a recovery from batters who cannot have expected to be exposed to such demands so early in proceedings, Alexa Stonehouse and Josie Groves. They did well to add 46 invaluable runs, Stonehouse top-scoring with 25. The tail failed to wag, leaving the Aussies with an eminently gettable 100 to win.
Therein lies one of the charms of the game. The lower the chasing target, the larger it appears.
The Reply
Ellie Anderson and Stonehouse each took a wicket in their opening over; Australia 4-2, and the scales had tipped again.
As the innings progressed, very tight bowling alternated with loose deliveries that were put away for four. Stonehouse must still work on that ball that slips down the leg-side: two consecutive boundaries accrued.
This time round Sophia Smale couldn’t produce the goods, but Hannah Baker and the captain could, 4-0-10-3 and 3.4-0-8-2 respectively.
Claire Moore, Hayward and Amy Smith batted with power and common sense up the order, but thereafter no-one could match that defining 7th-wicket partnership by England.
We’ve had some nail-biters already – think of West Indies’ one-run win, but with so much at stake here it was a wonder that spectators could bear to keep their eyes open.
The Indian players were interested onlookers. What must they have made of it all?
Teams:
Australia
Pelle, Ginger, Moore, Hayward, A. Smith, Hamilton, McKenna (cpatain), Hall (w-k), Wilson, Illingworth, Clark
England
Scrivens, Heap, Holland, Seren Smale, Pavely, Macdonald-Gay, Groves, Anderson, Sophia Smale, Stonehouse and Baker.
My guess before the Windies match was:
Scrivens, Heap, Holland, Perrin, Seren Smale, Macdonald-Gay, Groves, Anderson, Sophia Smale, Stonehouse and Baker.
So the selectors brought in the laft-handed Charis Pavely for the babe of the team, Davina Perrin. We can be sure she would have played a full part.
Scores:
England 99
Australia 96-9
England win by 3 runs
Player of the Match: Hannah Baker
Final:
Sunday 29 January
India v England
JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom Start: 11.45 GMT (13.45 Local time)
Notes
Of the two semi-finals this was forecast to be the tighter, the less predictable. And so it proved, an hundredfold.
On past results England had the advantage, posting four of the five biggest totals of the tournament.
They were happy to follow the example of the men’s team, led by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. But it nearly cost them the game. Or, defending counsel will claim, it proves the strategy is right!
Their direct counterparts, the men’s Under 19s, reached the final in Antigua early last year, but lost to India, so that was another target to reach.
Before the final both sets of coaches will be instructing their batters to play straight to straight balls. Quite understandablty the bounce is irregular, mainly low.
Cold Stats for England pre-semis
Batting
5 batters had averages between 42 and 55
10 of the 12 who came to the crease had a strike rate of 100+ 108 fours were struck; 9 sixes
3 batters scored 50s
Bowling
Anderson was the only bowler to take 5 wickets in an innings
12 bowlers were used. 8 took wickets; 7 of them averaged under 10
Between them they bowled 9 maidens
