ICC U-19 World Cup: Lloyd Pope’s Eight-For Fires Australia To Thrilling Win Over England
Nov 2, 2023 at 4:20 PM
The match could have gone either way when the lunch break was taken with England reeling on 79 for 5 in reply to Australia’s modest total of 127. However, it was Australia who held their nerve and defended the modest total by bowling out England for just 96 in the first quarterfinal to make it to the semifinal. Leg-spinner Lloyd Pope was the star of the show finishing with astonishing figures of 8 for 35 after taking the first five English wickets.
It was looking like an one way traffic when England openers – Tom Banton and Liam Banks- added 47 runs for the opening wicket. However, the game turned on its head when Lloyd Pope was introduced in the attack. In his second over, Pope dismissed Banks and skipper Harry Brook on successive deliveries to help Australia claw their way back into the game.
Four runs later, Pope added another to his tally by accounting for Will Jacks for just 1. A 20-run stand between Banton and Euan Woods stopped the rot for a while but Pope once again brought back Australia in the game by dismissing the well set Banton and Finlay Trenouth in quick succession to leave England reeling at 79 for 5 when the lunch break was taken.
Australia then all but sealed the game’s fate in their favour by taking three quick wickets after the break to reduce England to 84 for 8. A 12-run stand between Jack Davies and Ethan Bamber would have given Australia a moment of worry but Pope took the remaining two wickets in his last over to fire the three-time champions to a famous win and finish the game with an unbelievable 8 wickets.
Earlier in the day, Ethan Bamber, Dillon Pennington and Will Jacks took three wickets apiece to derail Australia’s innings. Jason Sangha’s decision to bat first was proven completely wrong as England bowled out the three time hosts for just 127 in the 34th over. Jack Edwards was the first Australian wicket to fall when he was trapped lbw by Pennington for just 3. 16 runs later, Pennington struck again to send back the other opener – Max Bryant for just 16 which eventually turned out to be the second highest score for Australia.
Australia’s innings was totally derailed when they lost two wickets inside six runs after Bryant’s departure before q 31-run stand between Sangha and Nathan McSweeney stopped the rot for a while. The stand was broken when McSweeney was dismissed by Bamber and triggered another mini collapse which saw them getting reduced to 86 for 7.
With Sangha holding firm from one end, Zak Evans provided him some support as the duo shared the highest stand of the innings, taking the score from 86 to 122 before the latter became Jacks’ second victim. One run later, Sangha was also sent back by Jacks for 58 beforev Euan Woods wrapped up the Australian innings.
Brief scores:
Australia 127 for 10 (Sangha 58, Jacks 3-21, Pennington 3-27) beat England 96 for 10 (Banton 58, Pope 8 for 35) by 31 runs.