India v New Zealand
First Semi-Final, U19 World Cup
An easy win for India, as you might expect when 1,326,000,000 plays 5 million.
Shafali Verma invited the Kiwis to bat first, seeing that as the neatest, quickest way to achieve success.
For once, icc.tv denied the world the opening overs. It remained blind as the game swung decisively India’s way.
Anna Browning was smartly caught at slip in the second over, and Emma McLeod soon followed, lbw to a ball that kept low. Izzy Gaze responded bravely to these losses, hitting three fours in one over. But she fell lbw in similar style to McLeod. That was always likely to be batters’ fate, as the square had taken a pounding for two weeks running.
Batters in the remaining games will know the dangers of playing across the line.
Georgia Plimmer confirmed her promise with a top score of 35, but once she was dismissed, caught at deep-square, the game was gone. At least she has the Senior T20 World Cup to look forward to.
Parshavi Chopra (3-20) bowled her leg-spinners with guile and pace.
The Reply
At no stage were the Indians under pressure. The captain did fall to a magnificent tumbling catch by Plimmer at deep-square, but that left Shweta Sehwarat to achieve her own personal target, to overhaul Grace Scrivens’ top total of 269 runs. This she did with barely a tremor, reaching 50 off 39 deliveries. She finished unbeaten on 61 off 45.
Many of the Kiwis’ shots had failed to get past the infield ring. The Indian batters found space for both easy singles and well-struck fours.
Teams:
India
Verma (captain), Sehwarat, Tiwara, Trisha, Ghosh (w-k), Bashu, Sadhu, Kashyap, Devi, Chopra, Yadav
New Zealand
Browning, McLeod, Plimmer, Gaze (w-k), Sharp (captain), E. Irwin, K. Irwin, Loggenberg, Codyre, Knight, Hotton
Result:
New Zealand 107-9
India 110-2 (14.2 overs)
India win by 8 wickets
Player of the Match: Sehwarat
Umpires: Sarah Bartlett (Eng), Lisa McCabe (AUS)
Notes
In prospect, this semi-final was seen as the more one-sided; India the strong favourites to win through. So it turned out.
Shafali Verma’s main contribution to India’s success had come through the speed of her run-gathering, rather than sheer weight of runs. She came into the semis totalling one run fewer than Libby Heap, England’s opening bat (147/148). Verma’s strike-rate of 213 stood head and shoulders above everyone else’s, but she had achieved only a single half-century.
Coverage
As noted above, as play began, icc.tv announced ‘We’ll be right back’, a subtle use of the word ‘right’.
Once transmission was restored, the production team gave a mixed performance. There were two Indian commentators, but none from New Zealand, so we learned far more about one team than the other.
The producer kept inserting extreme close-ups of the players watching on from the edge, rather than shots of spectators. But the residents of Potchefstroom were noticeable by their absence.
