Titas Sadhu, Archana Devi and Parshavi Chopra took two scalps each while Gongadi Trisha and Soumya Tiwari made useful scores as India Under-19 scripted a memorable seven-wicket win over England Under-19 to seal the inaugural Women’s Under-19 World Cup in Potchefstroom. India U19 chased down the paltry target of 69 in the 14th over.
Despite losing Shafali Verma and Shweta Sehrawat by just the fourth over, India were mostly in cruise control. The duo of Trisha and Tiwari joined forces to stitch a stand of 46 which more or less sealed the deal. The pair cracked the drive, flick and cut to keep the scorecard ticking over. Tiwari also had a reprieve as she was she was dropped at slip off Hannah Barker.
The left-arm medium pacer Alex Stonehouse dismissed Trisha in the 13th over. In the very next over bowled by Barker, Tiwari scored a double and single to steer India past England’s score. Shafali and the rest of her teammates sprinted onto the ground and there were jubilant scenes at Potchefstroom. One could spot a few teary-eyed players too.
The victory was set up by the bowlers. Sadhu dislodged the dangerous Liberty Heap in the very first over, with the opener spooning an easy return catch. Archana Devi, the off-spinner, then dented England further by removing Grace Scrivens and Niamh Holland in a single over. Scrivens’ downfall was mainly down to an excellent catch taken by Trisha at long-off.
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as England Under-19 were bundled out by the 18th over. Kent’s all-rounder Ryana Macdonald Gay top-scored for England with 19. Eventually, on expected lines, England’s modest score didn’t prove to be enough.
Brief scores: England U19 68 in 17.1 overs (Ryana Macdonald Gay 19; Titas Sadhu 2-6) lost to India U19 69/3 in 14 overs (Soumya Tiwari 24*; Alexa Stonehouse 1-8) by seven wickets
