England beat India by one wicket in 2nd Youth ODI, level series 1-1

Northampton, Jun 30 (PTI) Riding on captain Thomas Rew's brilliant century, England scraped through with a narrow one-wicket win over India in the second Youth ODI to level the five-match series 1-1 here on Monday.

India, who had won the first match by six wickets at Hove on June 27, posted 290 in 49 overs after being asked to bat. England then chased down the target with three balls to spare, reaching 291 for 9 in 49.3 overs.

Medium pacer RS Ambrish took four wickets for 80 runs from his 10 overs to raise hopes of an Indian victory but the last English pair of Sebastian Morgan (20 not out) and Alex French (3 not out) survived the final two overs to give their side a win in a see-saw battle.

The home side made a shaky start in their run chase with opener BJ Dawkins (7) back in the dressing room in the second over at team score of just seven. They slumped to 46 for 2 and then to 47 for 3 in the 12th over with Ambrish taking the wickets of Ben Mayes (27) and Isaac Mohammed (11) in quick succession.

But Rew (131 off 89 balls) and Rocky Flintoff (39) resurrected the England innings with a 123-run stand for the fourth wicket before the latter got out off Kanishk Chouhan in the 33rd over.

Rew, who hit 16 fours and six sixes in his masterly innings, fell in the 40th over off the bowling of Henil Patel and that led to a batting collapse as England were reduced to 254 for 8 by the 46th over.

England needed 20 runs from three overs and 12 from two but they had just two wickets in hand.

Alex Green (12) fell in the first ball of the penultimate over, the third victim for Ambrish, and England needed seven runs from the final over with the last pair at the crease.

England eventually crossed the line with Morgan hitting a four off the third ball of the final over bowled by Yudhajit Guha.

Earlier, asked to bat first, opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi (45), Vihaan Malhotra (49), Rahul Kumar (47), Kanishk Chouhan (45) and Abhigyan Kundu (32) made useful contribution to take India to 290 from 49 overs.

This was after opener and captain Ayush Mhatre was dismissed for a duck off the first ball of the innings. However, India recovered from that jolt with the other top and middle-order batters coming good.

Suryavanshi was among the runs for the second time as he had also made 48 in India's comprehensive win in the first match.

For England, AM French was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/71 from his 10 overs while Jack Home (3/63) and Alex Green (3/50) were among the wickets. The home side conceded 32 extras, including 26 wides.

Brief scores: India U-19: 290 all out in 49 overs (Vaibhav Suryavanshi 45, Vihaan Malhotra 49, Rahul Kumar 47, Kanishk Chouhan 45; AM French 4/71, Jack Home 3/63, Alex Green 3/50).

England U-19: 291 for 9 in 49.3 overs (Thomas Rew 131, Rocky Flintoff 39; RS Ambrish 4/80). PTI PDS PDS APA APA