Terrific Teddy

BECKENHAM, England – Right-hander Teddy Bishop hit a sublime hundred to supervise a brilliant run chase as West Indies Under-19s pulled off a two-wicket victory over their English counterparts in the third Youth One-Day International today.

In pursuit of a challenging 240 at Kent County Ground, the Caribbean side overhauled their target with three overs to spare, with Bishop carving out a high quality 133 off 117 deliveries. It was an innings of incredible maturity, confidence and class.

The knock comprised 20 fours and came on the heels of his unbeaten 97 two days ago when West Indies U19s agonisingly went down by one wicket.

They suffered a heavy 166-run defeat in last Saturday’s opener at the same venue. But today Bishop would not be denied his place in West Indies folk lore.

“I’m feeling really great to be honest but most importantly, a win for the team,” Bishop said afterwards.

“I think this innings is really special to me. It’s my first international hundred so it’s really special.”

He added: “The bowlers did really well for us in the morning, so the batters had to make sure we backed it up. The plan was to keep ticking it along to hit the gaps and to keep my partners in the game and keep talking to them. We can take a lot away from this game with this win. We were two-nil down so now we got a great win today and we are back in the series.”

Choosing to bat first, England U19s racked up 239 for nine off their 50 overs with George Bell top-scoring with 44, Thomas Aspinwall weighing in with 41 and William Luxton getting 27.

Captain Tom Prest was an early casualty in the second over for four with the score on six but Luxton’s run-a-ball knock with five fours saw England U19s rebuild through a second wicket stand of 47 with George Thomas (18).

Both fell in the space of three deliveries in successive overs to reduce the innings to 53 for three but Bell patched things up first in a 28-run, fourth wicket stand with Barbados-born Jacob Bethell (13) and then in a 38-run sixth wicket partnership with Alex Horton (21).

Bell, who faced 80 balls and hit a four and six, added a further 39 for the seventh wicket with Archie Lenham (19) before falling in the 37th over but Aspinwall belted two fours in a busy 53-ball knock to inspire a 40-run, eighth wicket partnership with Nathan Barnwell who produced a cameo unbeaten 25 off 22 balls, to ensure the tail wagged.

Left-arm spinner Anderson Mahase (2-42), left-arm seamer Nathan Edward (2-46) and fast bowler McKenny Clarke (2-52) all finished with two wickets each.

West Indies U19s then suffered a wretched start, losing both openers Justin Jagessar (5) and Anderson Amurdan (4) cheaply to leave the innings stumbling at 12 for two in the fifth over before Bishop, batting at number three, grabbed the spotlight.

The Grenadian put on 69 for the third wicket with captain Ackeem Auguste (18), 37 for the fourth with wicketkeeper Rivaldo Clarke (16) before combining in a critical 73-run partnership with Giovonte Depeiza (21) to fire the Rising Stars to 191 for four.

Depeiza and Anderson Mahase (2) perished in quick succession to leave the run chase tentatively placed at 205 for six in the 43rd over and Bishop added a further 23 for the seventh wicket with Edward (17 not out) before finally departing in the 46th over, bowled by left-arm spinner James Coles.

But with only 12 runs required from 27 balls, Edward held his nerve and struck a boundary off the final ball of the 46th over bowled by Coles. McKenney Clarke, who had replaced Bishop at the crease was bowled by Barnwell off the second ball of the 47th over with West Indies still needing seven runs for victory. Tall Barbadian left-hander Johann Layne, who celebrates his 18th birthday on Friday, replaced Clarke and got two runs from the fourth ball of Barnwell’s over to bring the target down to five runs.

With tensions at fever pitch both on and off the field, Layne launched the last ball of the over out of the ground for the winning six and sparked celebrations in the West Indian camp.

Ironically, just two days prior to today’s game, the star of the show Bishop had spoken about conditions in England following his unbeaten 97. “It’s different conditions out here so batting is a little bit different here. You have to play the ball a little later and move as early as possible,” the 18-year-old said.

“The outfield here is really good – you get purchase for your shots. Once you get in, you can score runs over here,” he had said. Today, he proved it with a memorable innings where the next best score for the West Indies was 21. (CMC/WG)