England U19s beat India U19s by five wickets in Cheltenham

Jack Haynes and Ben Charlesworth both hit fifties as England U19s chased down 257 against India U19s to win by five wickets at Cheltenham.

Having been put into bat, India started briskly before Blake Cullen trapped Qamran Iqbal lbw in the fifth over. The scoring rate then stagnated somewhat, with England picking up regular wickets.

Somerset’s Blake Aldridge picked up two in an impressive spell of pace bowling, while Derbyshire spinner Hamidullah Qadri conceded just 37 from his ten overs, also taking two wickets.

Shubhang Hegde and Karan Lal batted well to add 63 in the final six overs and set England a target of 257.

England started their reply well, but the run-rate crept up as the innings went on. Worcestershire’s Haynes and Gloucestershire’s Charlesworth added 98 for the second wicket in 23 overs as India’s bowlers restricted scoring opportunities.

Charlesworth (52), Lewis Goldsworthy (11) and Joey Evison (0) fell in the space of six overs to put England on the back foot. But captain George Hill joined Haynes at the crease and the pair started get on top of the rate until Haynes was caught behind for 89.

Hill (41*) was joined by Somerset’s Kasey Aldridge, who hit an unbeaten 29 from just 16 balls, to add 59 for the sixth wicket to take England over the line for their first win of the tri-series.

SCORECARD: https://www.ecb.co.uk/matches/10856

Quotes

Jack Haynes: “It’s great to get a win under our belts. We played really well throughout; keeping them to under 260 was a brilliant effort.

“It was challenging to score quick runs. They bowled quite well – straight and at the top of the stumps, but also quite short early on with a bit of pace.

“But there were runs there – it was a very good pitch, which is credit to the groundsman. There were a lot of people watching as well, which is always nice.

“The win is huge [after opening with two losses]. We weren’t down, we backed our potential and chatted about how we’d turn it around, so we’re very happy.”