England suffer final over defeat to Australia at ICC U19 Cricket World Cup

​England suffered an agonising final-ball defeat to Australia in their second match of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, leaving the Young Lions unable to qualify from Group B.

Having been put into bat, England openers Ben Charlesworth and Jordan Cox started well, taking the score to 67 before Cox returned a catch to spinner Todd Murphy to fall for 25.

Tom Clark departed three overs later having been bogged down by the spin attack, bringing Jack Haynes to the crease to add 64 with Charlesworth. Haynes’ wicket – caught at cover after top-edging a sweep – brought on a mini-collapse with England losing two more wickets for five runs, including Charlesworth for an excellent 82.

Joey Evison and Dan Mousley arrested the slide and pushed the score on to 191 before two more wickets fell, putting England on the back foot once again.

But Mousley batted maturely with number nine Kasey Aldridge to keep the scoreboard ticking, rotating the strike well before upping the tempo in the closing overs. The duo added 60 from the final seven overs, with Mousley reaching his 50 with a huge six over midwicket.

Set 253 to win, Australia’s openers came out with an attacking intent. Jake Fraser-McGurk blitzed 11 off five balls before falling LBW to captain George Balderson. Sam Fanning continued the attack with Mackenzie Harvey before the pair settled into a rhythm, keeping the scoring rate at the required five-per-over.

Fanning fell with the score on 70, leaving Harvey and Lachlan Hearne to patiently add 73 more. With 100 needed from the last 20 overs, Australia had a collapse of their own with four wickets falling in five overs.

Hamidullah Qadri bowled Harvey as he attempted to work a sweep through the legside before Lewis Goldsworthy had Oliver Davies caught at short cover 11 balls later. And at the end of the following over, Qadri picked up another, bowling Liam Scott through the gate.

Cox missed a stumping off Qadri’s next over but made up for it three balls later as Hearne came down the wicket to Goldsworthy and missed a wider delivery, allowing Cox time to take the bails off.

Goldsworthy bowled three maidens in his 10 overs, taking two for 24, with Qadri taking two for 35 and seamer Blake Cullen added two late wickets to his tally.

With Australia’s eighth wicket falling for 206 in the 46^th over, the game looked to be going England’s way, but some late power hitting from number nine Connor Sully (33 off 20), with support from Todd Murphy (16 off 10), took Australia to victory, knocking off 40 runs in the final three overs.

Balderson said: “It’s obviously very disappointing to lose the match and end our chances of winning the World Cup.

“The two innings were very similar in the way they progressed, with flurries of wickets swinging the match in each team’s favour and then late runs ultimately deciding it. Credit goes to the Australians, though, who took their chances well at the end, targeting the short boundary.

“We’ve still got four matches to play, against Nigeria on Saturday and then into the Plate competition. We want to win every match we play while representing England, so we’ll look to move on and win the Plate.”