Australia U19s take 2-1 lead in ODI series after thrilling three-wicket win
Doran century guides Aussie U19s home
A century from Jake Doran has helped Australia’s U19s survive a thriller to take a 2-1 series lead over England.
Doran’s crafty batting, fifty from Sam Harper and some handy lower-order hitting from Henry Thornton saw the hosts home by three wickets with one ball to spare.
On a picture-perfect day in Perth Aussie skipper Jaron Morgan won the toss and elected to field on a hard pitch that seemed to have little grass.
The decision paid off immediately when England opener Max Holden (2) was dismissed in the third over off the bowling of impressive Western Australian quick Jhye Richardson.
Richardson then claimed his second victim when Haseeb Hameed was dismissed for a 16-ball duck, Hammed struggling to get set and paying the price by edging a nick through to the waiting hands of wicketkeeping sensation Tom Healy, who took the regulation catch gleefully.
Image Id: ~/media/B1854515172440BA827B2BDAE7BC852BEngland U19s batsman Haseeb Hameed
England skipper Joe Weatherly was tasked to steady the ship when he was joined by number four batsmen Aneurin Donald.
Both played some lovely shots and quickly pushed the run rate above four an over before Weatherly (47) was dismissed off the bowling of Riley Ayre.
Donald (48) followed soon after, caught by Thornton off the bowling of Grimwade, leaving the score at 4-114 after 26 overs.
Enter Callum Taylor, England’s top allrounder, who began punishing the bowling and scored at almost a run a ball before being dismissed for a well-made 61 from 67 balls.
Taylor’s partner Aaron Thomason remained unbeaten on 66 when the innings came to a close with the score a very competitive 7-241.
Australia’s innings got off to a shaky start, with Jake Carder (7) losing his off-stump to Saqib Mahmood in the third over.
Fellow opener Morgan (3) followed soon after skying a high ball to mid-wicket, bringing Doran to the crease.
Doran combined with Harper to get the Aussie run-chase back on track and both batsmen looked comfortable, particularly against the spinners, regularly sweeping fine for four.
Doran and Harper reached their fifties in quick succession and the game seemed to be Australia’s for the taking when Harper top-edged Callum Taylor to square-leg, departing for 67.
Image Id: ~/media/19F7C95C10F54161AD132EEDDE7DE7D7Sam Harper on his way to fifty for Australia U19s
Patrick Page joined Doran at the crease and the pair were pushed on to the back foot by good tight bowling which dragged the required run rate to above a run a ball in the 36th over.
Page (18) was run out in the 43rd over, caught out by a direct hit, while Doran continued to accumulate runs, bringing up his first limited overs hundred in Australian colours with a lofted shot towards deep mid-wicket for four.
Australia was within grasp of the series lead, but when Doran department and the run rate continued to climb, it seemed the task might be getting beyond the hosts.
Jhye Richardson joined Riley Ayre at the crease and the pair put the accelerator down, with Richardson hitting a couple of boundaries before departing for 15 from 10 balls, leaving it up to fast bowling star Henry Thornton to find the winning runs.
The game looked as though it was England’s for the taking before Thornton smashed a massive six and a four off the bowling of Mahmood in the 49th over, leaving Australia with two runs to get from the final six balls.
Australia passed the score with one ball remaining, despite fine bowling from England’s Jared Warner, with Thornton scoring the winning run.