England Academy make it three out of three

England Academy handed out another serious drubbing of their Aussie counterparts when they bowled them out for just 135 inside 35 overs, chasing England's 200 all out, on a turning pitch at the P. Sara Stadium in Colombo.

Batting first England made a poor start with Sophia Dunkley caught at slip off the away swinging Brennan for a duck and Emma Lamb (9) caught behind off the same bowler in her next over. England were 11/2.

But Fran Wilson (69) and Georgia Adams (49) seemed to have set England up for a decent score with a 113 run third wicket partnership. Wilson cut, drove and swept with great timing and Adams bludgeoned the bad ball to the boundary. Adams succumbed to the returning Brennan, caught behind, in the 23rd over, but England must have been thinking of in excess of 260 at this point. But when Wilson mistimed a pull off Brennan and was caught England's innings started to unravel. Hollie Armitage skied Price to extra cover for 0, before Sophie Luff (15) and Kate Cross added 29 for the fifth wicket. It was the last meaningful partnership for England, and it could have been worse if Cross had not been dropped on the boundary on 14. Luff clothed a full-toss to mid-off and Langston (5) was lbw, both to off-spinner Price. Next over Steph Butler (0) skied Wellington to square leg. Within four more overs the last two wickets had fallen, as Cross (34) was caught and bowled and Threkeld was lbw. England had managed to put an under-par 200 on the board.

After their disastrous start in the last game the Aussies took a more measured approach this time. Patterson (43) batted nicely again putting away the bad ball, while Molineaux (11) was resolute in defence. They took the score to 64 in the 15th over before Hartley and Butler (4/35) got to work on a pitch that was producing some decent turn and bounce. Hartley removed Patterson lbw sweeping and then Butler enticed Molineaux to drive to Cross at mid-off. Stalenburg then repeated the error and McGrath was well caught sweeping at Butler and gloving it to keeper Threlkeld. From a position of some strength the Aussies were now 66/4.

The Butler/Cross partnership then accounted for Gardner and slow left-armer Sophie Ecclestone weighed in with the sixth wicket as Price swung her to Davies on the deep midwicket boundary. 83/6 and the Aussie innings was in tatters. Skipper Banting briefly held up the onslaught, but when she was bowled by leggie Sophia Dunkley's third ball, and Smith was caught behind off Ecclestone the end appeared to be in sight. But Hancock and Wellington  held England at bay until Freya Davies applied the coup de grace picking up the ninth and tenth wickets in successive overs to catches at mid-off by Ecclestone. Australia were all out for 135 and England had won by 65 runs.

England will be keen to keep their 100% record going when they play Sri Lanka A tomorrow at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.

England batting (unofficial) - Dunkley 0, Lamb 9, Adams 49, Wilson 69, Luff 15, Armitage 0, Cross 35, Langston 5, Butler 0, Ecclestone 0*, Threlkeld 0

England bowling (unofficial) - Langston 5-0-16-0, Cross 4-0-17-0, Davies 3.5-0-20-2, Hartley 5-2-18-1, Butler 6-2-35-4, Ecclestone 6-1-20-2, Dunkley 4-0-14-1

Australia batting (unofficial) - Patterson 43, Molineaux 13, McGrath 1, Stalenberg 1, Banting 18, Gardner 4, Price 0, Smith 1, Hancock 11, Wellington 15*, Vakarewa 1.

Australia bowling (unofficial) - Brennan 8-2-22-4, Hancock 4-0-22-0, Wellington 10-2-37-1, McGrath 3-0-20-0, Smith 6-0-28-0, Vakarewa 4-0-22-0, Price 8-1-30-3, Molineaux 1.5-0-7-2

MD
1/IV/16