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Women's Under 21 title goes to England
England were untroubled in winning the Women’s Under 21 championship in Rotterdam on Thursday, beating Ireland by eight wickets in a game that finished on the stroke of lunchtime. Ireland were, as it turned out, the architects of their own misfortunes, having won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket which had already demonstrated its difficulty in Wednesday’s game between the Irish and The Netherlands. Perhaps it was the fact that Ireland had made 217 in that match which motivated the decision, but the England bowlers were a completely different proposition from the Dutch. Kathryn Doherty took two wickets in the first five overs to destroy any Irish ambition for a good start, and then, after Jillian Smythe and Jill Whelan had taken the score to 30, England skipper Stephanie Davies weighed in with three wickets for two runs in three overs, not counting a run out. That made Ireland 35 for six, and when Charlotte Horton chimed in with two wickets from the other end, towards the end of an economical nine-over spell, the score was 37 for eight. Having dismissed The Netherlands for 41 in Tuesday’s friendly and Scotland for 37 on Wednesday, England must have had visions of once more running through the opposition for less than fifty. But they were frustrated by a stubborn stand of 29 between Sinead Lyons and Jackie McDowell, who batted for 17 overs, more than doubling the length of the innings and forcing Davies to bring on her spinners. Jo Watts finally broke the partnership by enticing McDowell into a return catch, and in the following over Danielle Wyatt bowled Lyons to end the Irish innings on 68. Davies finished with three for 6 from seven overs, while Doherty took two for 18 and Horton two for 17. Whatever demons the pitch had contained for the Irish batters seemed to have disappeared when England replied. Jenny Halstead and Davies put on 62 in 14 overs to bring their side to the brink of victory, but then Davies, trying to loft McDowell, skied the ball backward of square, where Melissa Scott-Hayward skilfully avoided a team-mate to take a fine running catch. McDowell then had Halstead leg before off her next ball, and suddenly England were 62 for two. That was the end of the over, with McDowell on a hat-trick. Four runs came off the following over, so McDowell got her chance, but Laura Boorman defended the first ball successfully, and four singles gave England the match and the championship. As it turned out, however, McDowell's two wickets were crucial for her team: the second of them was enough to ensure that the Irish finished 0.05 ahead of The Netherlands on net run rate, and thereby took second place in the tournament. |
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