England thrash West Indies by 61 runs

England gave West Indies a 61-run beating in the in the 7th match of the U19 ICC CWC at Chittagong today.

It was truly a professional display from the English side, and they showed the gulf of difference in terms of talent of the sides as well.

Callum Taylor topscored with 59 from 67 for England while Larence scored 55, Bartlett 48 and Burnham 44 respectively.

With the ball, Saqib Mahmood was the star. He took four wickets for 42 runs in 8.4 overs. Lawrence and Curran took two each.

West Indies lost their eighth wicket in the 43rd over with the asking run-rate climbing above nine. Smith slogged across the line, got an edge that carried to Davies. 

West Indies lower order batters found boundaries hard to come by, and tried desperately to muscle their way out of frustration, but still couldn’t connect with the big hits.

Saqib Mahmood got his second wicket of the match in the 42nd over, and by now his team sensed a victory in their opening game of this tournament. Mahmood sent back Frew for seven runs.

England’s Mahmood struck in the 40th over to compound West Indies’ problems as Goolie was caught in the deep for a slow 27.

Goolie killed the chase with his stubborn approach, and refused to accelerate when his team needed the most.

West Indies suffered another blow in the 20th over when Carty was caught and bowled for 22 by Lawrence. The batsman didn’t get to the pitch and the ball stopped on him.

England removed the biggest obstacle in their road to victory when Lawrence dismissed Pope for 60. Pope steered the West Indies innings, scored his runs from 60 balls with six boundaries and three sixes.

His departure gave England a spring in their steps.

The third wicket stand between Carty and Pope salvaged the West Indies innings, and both of them looked comfortable at the crease working the ball around the field.

Gidron Pope batted positively, and looked to take the attack to the opposing bowlers. He reached his half century from 50 balls, and while he is batting, West Indies have some hope of overtaking the target of 282 today.

West Indies endured a disastrous start to their chase, when they lost two wicket in the very first over bowled by Curran.

Shimron Hetmyer, West Indies captain was trapped in front of the wicket for a duck with a full delivery that swung in late. Sam Curran was delighted as he made the ball talk.

Sam Curran struck with his second ball when he sent back Imlach for naught with a beautiful away-swinger. The batter tried to drive with his feet rooted to the crease, managed a thin edge and was walking back to the pavilion with his head down.

England new ball bowlers enjoyed the extra bounce and pace off the wicket.

Earlier, England reached a mammoth target of 282 for seven at the end of 50-overs thanks to some decent partnerships along the batting order against West Indies.

Couple of fifties from Taylor and Lawrence, supported by forties from Burnham and Bartlett enabled their side to give a difficult target for the West Indies to chase down.

Gidron Pope took two wickets for West Indies.  

The second last over of the first innings saw another English wicket to fall, when Curran was bowled by Paul for 39. Curran faced 36 balls and hammered three fours and a six to give the late impetus.

Davies was run out in the 49th over when the bowler threw down the stumps at the batsman’s end. West Indies tried to pull back things but the wickets came too late for them in the context of this match.

England lost Bartlett in the 48th over after a 67-run partnership that took the game away from West Indies. Bartlett scored 48 from 62, struck a four and six in his knock, but more importantly allowed his team to reach a massive total.

When it looked like England were firmly on the driver’s seat, they were shaken in the 38th over when the in-form Taylor departed for 59.

Taylor tried to sweep, went too far across, the ball spun, hit his glove and deflected onto the stumps. He played 67 balls, struck two boundaries and three sixes.

England lower-middle order kept up the good work by their teammates and played positively with the powerplay overs in sight.

West Indies broke the third wicket stand to stem England’s progress when Pope caught and bowled Burnham for 44 in the 28th over.

Taylor and Burnham combined for 62 runs in 13.1 overs, and plastered the foundation for a huge total in the end. Burnham faced 55 balls for his useful knock, smashed four fours and two sixes along the way.

England were bolstered by useful partnerships top of the order, and progressed quite handsomely towards a good total on the batting pitch.

Callum Taylor and Jack Burnham steadied ship after the loss of the second wicket, and consolidated with sensible cricket all around. They kept the scoreboard ticking and dispatched the bad balls away efficiently.

When things were looking good for the English, they were dealt a blow in the 15 th over when Lawrence was bowled going for the sweep.

The England batsman was well set, scored 55 from 56 balls with eight boundaries, and should have carried on the good work. He tried to sweep leaving no second line of defence and the ball crashed into the leg stump.

West Indies bowlers found it difficult to contain the English batsmen, as the odd loose ball in every over always eased the pressure, and helped the run-rate as well.

England lost their first wicket in the ninth over when Holden was dismissed for four runs, after a decent partnership to begin the innings.

Holden, however looked out of touch, played 16 balls and perished in a whimper.

England U19 captain Brad Taylor won the toss and elected to bat first on the batting friendly wicket at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium against West Indies U19 led by Simon Hetmyer.

West Indies

TA Imlach (Wicketkeeper), GD Pope, SO Hetmyer (Captain), KU Carty, JU Goolie, KMA Paul, SK Springer, MO Frew, KA Kallicharan, AS Joseph, OF Smith

England

GA Bartlett, SM Curran, RC Davies (Wicketkeeper), BGF Green, BJ Taylor (Captain), MS Crane, S Mahmood, DW Lawrence, MDE Holden, JTA Burnham and CJ Taylor