England stunned Australia by three-runs in the low-scoring thriller in the U-19 T20 World Cup semifinal clash at the Senwes Park, Potchefstroom, South Africa on Friday (January 27). Riding on this win England women have set final date with Shafali Verma-led India which will be played on January 29.
In a low-scoring match, England comprehensively defended 99 in Potchefstroom to earn a final place against India, who beat New Zealand in the other semi-final. After losing early wickets, Australia looked in control at 56/4 before losing their last six wickets for mere 30 runs. Hannah Baker starred for England with 3/10 from her four overs to be adjudged the player of the match.
Just as they had done throughout the tournament, the unbeaten England chose to bat after winning the toss to hopefully put a big total on the board and let scoreboard pressure do its thing, but the Australian bowling attack had different ideas about allowing them to set a challenging target.
Having gone unchallenged by the bowling attacks from previous matches all tournament, England found the Aussies tough to handle, with Sianna Ginger (3/13), Maggie Clark (3/15) and Ella Hayward (3/25) making relatively light work of one of the more explosive batting line-ups around.
Having scored the most runs in the tournament (269 from five matches) before the semi-final encounter, Scrivens posted a run-a-ball 20 before being the sixth wicket out.
For the brief period she was in, middle-order batter Seren Smale looked like she was batting on a different surface, but an unlucky LBW decision went against her for a 10-ball 10 (two fours), leaving lower order batters Alexa Stonehouse and Josie Groves to pick up the pieces.
The two compiled a gutsy eighth-wicket partnership of 46 from 46 balls, Stonehouse top-scoring with 25 off 33 (two fours) and Groves chipping in with 15. That partnership was the main reason England got to 99 all out, which also told them they were in the game as the biggest total scored against them in the tournament was 103 by Pakistan. Australia losing their first two wickets for just four runs meant a cliffhanger was on the cards, with England the eventual winners in a finish that will be remembered for a long time to come.
India secured a simple eight-wicket win over New Zealand to reach the final of the U19 Women's T20 World Cup and created history by becoming the first team to qualify for the ultimate match in the inaugural tournament. Led by the astute bowling of Parshavi Chopra, who took three wickets, the Indian bowlers reduced the New Zealanders to 107/9. In response, the Indian teenagers needed just 14.2 overs to chase down the mediocre target with a half-century from Shweta Sehrawat.
