The West Indies Under-19 rising stars team, led by Saint Lucian Ackeem Auguste, will have to win today’s match to prevent host England from winning their third Royal London Youth One – Day International (ODI).
England U19s lead the six-match series 2-0.
After today, the remaining three matches in the series are scheduled for Friday 10th, Tuesday 14th, and Friday 17th at Canterbury.
On Monday 6th, Teddy Bishop played a superb knock but fell just short of a century as the second Youth ODI went down to the wire. The tall right-hander scored 97 not out which was the bedrock of West Indies 180 for 9 off 39.3 overs.
The 18-year-old faced 104 balls and hit nine fours and two sixes but ran out of partners in the end. West Indies were at one stage in deep trouble at 121 for 6 in the 25th over, but Bishop formed a great partnership with Isai Thorne. The pair added 54 for the seventh wicket to take the score to 175 for7. Thorne played with a straight bat and made 11 off 38 balls.
This gave West Indies a fighting score and they defended it well, but England got home by one wicket in the end.
The host was at one stage 115 for 2 in the chase but collapsed to 162 for 9. The key moment of this period occurred with the run out of top scorer James Rew, 63, as the West Indies U19s bowlers fought back to give themselves a great chance of pulling off a come from behind victory, before England’s last-wicket pair took them home.
Thorne, the 16-year-old fast bowler was again the standout bowler for West Indies U19s taking three wickets, bowling with good pace. He ended with 3 for 54 off 10 overs to follow up his 3 for 51 in the first match last Saturday. Thorne was well backed by the spin bowling duo of Onaje Amory 2 for 42 playing his first game and Anderson Mahase 2 for 34.
Meanwhile, West Indies Rising Stars U19s went down to England Under-19s by 166 runs, in the opening encounter on Saturday September 4th. Captain Ackeem Auguste won the toss and decided to bowl first, England posted 289 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs. The total was built around half-centuries by captain Jacob Bethell 69, James Rew 59 and wicket-keeper Alex Horton 53.
With the ball the West Indies main wicket-takers were the pace trio of Isai Thorne 3 for 51, Andel Gordon 2 for 45 and McKenny Clarke 2 for 58.
Bethell and Rew added 87 for the third wicket before the partnership was broken by the 16-year-old Thomas, who bowled with good pace throughout his 10-over spell. He later returned to get the wicket of Horton, who played a late cameo which included four fours and a six, as England scored 85 runs in the last 10 overs.
In reply, the West Indies total of 123 had its main contributions from openers Anderson Amurdan 33 and Matthew Nandu 21 who gave the West Indies a 46-run opening stand in the initial 10 over power play.
Amurdan faced 47 balls and hit five boundaries, while left-hander Nandu faced 28 balls and hit two fours. But led by a five-wicket haul from off-spinner Tom Prest, 5 for 18, who was well supported by the leg-spin of Rehan Ahmed, 3 for 22 and left-arm orthodox Fateh Singh, 1 for 28, they combined effectively to bowl out the visitors in the 30th over.
The West Indies U19 Rising Stars squad: Ackeem Auguste (captain), Giovonte Depeiza (vice-captain), Onaje Amory, Anderson Amurdan, Justin Beckford, Teddy Bishop, Carlon Bowen-Tuckett, McKenny Clarke, Rivaldo Clarke, Nathan Edward, Andel Gordon, Sion Hackett, Justin Jagessar, Johann Layne, Anderson Mahase, Matthew Nandu, Isai Thorne, and Vasant Singh.