South Africa U19 vs India U19, 3rd Youth ODI, Review: Jonathan Bird helps South Africa U19 avoid a series whitewash

A match-winning knock from Jonathan Bird drove South Africa U19 to a 5 wicket victory over India U19 in the final match of the Youth One Day International series being played in London. But, making a complete team effort in the final match, the Protean youth saved their grace by avoiding a whitewash by winning the final match of the series.

The previous two matches of the series had been won by the India U19 team and that too with ease. In the first match, the South Africans had batted first and were bundled for 187 runs and India sailed to victory. And, in the second match, the same story was repeated. The Proteas were bowled out for 119 runs and the target set was chased by the Indians in just 16.2 overs. But, the third match went completely different.

The third encounter between the two teams, being played on the same venue as the other two, started on a different note. Correcting his make from the first match, the captain of South Africa U19, Bryce Parsons, won the toss and chose to bowl first. And, given the nature of the pitch, it was an excellent decision. This time, falling in the boots of the South Africans, who had performed poorly batting first, the Indians were dismissed cheaply.

The Indian innings got over with the visitors being able to post 192 runs on the scoreboard for the loss of 8 wickets. Leading the South African bowling unit was Pheku Moletsane. Moletsane in his quota of 10 overs took two wickets and maintained an economy of 3.60.

None of the India batsmen was able to amass a big score

Other bowlers who contributed were A. Colete who also picked up 2 wickets, but gave away more runs, along with O. Modimokoane and T van Vuuren, both of whom took one wicket each. But there was one bowler who wasn’t able to pick up wickets but kept the flow of runs in check and he was M. Khumalo. Khumalo in the 9 overs bowled a maiden over and gave away just 23 runs at an economy of 2.55.

For India, none of the batsmen was able to convert their starts into big scores. While weight out of the 11 members of the side made it double figures, none of them was able to put up a good show. The highest scorer was the captain, P.K. Garg who scored 55 runs off 76 balls. His inning helped the score to 198 runs.

Coming into the second innings, the damage had been done. Given the ease of batting on the pitch, he Indian bowlers needed to pull off a miracle. But, sadly they weren’t able to do so. While South Africa did lose 4 wickets, but the match never looked out of their control. With Jonathan Bird top-scoring with 88 runs, South Africa U19 sailed to victory with ease.

In spite of the loss, the series was won by the Indians, who ensured in the first two matches that they were to be the ones taking the trophy home.

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