Friday, August 22nd, 2014

Clarke And Barnard Help England Under-19S Complete Series Whitewash

Clarke And Barnard Help England Under-19S Complete Series Whitewash

Fit again Worcestershire wicket-keeper Joe Clarke finished joint top scorer as England Under-19s completed a 5-0 whitewash of South Africa in the One-Day Series.

Clarke had missed the fourth international at Grace Road on Wednesday with a bout of food poisoning.

But he returned for the finale of the series at Derby and helped England to an 87 run triumph.

He came to the wicket with England in some trouble at 28-3 and added 74 in 15 overs for the fourth wicket with Haseeb Hameed.

Clarke, in front of Worcestershire Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes, made an accomplished 45 off 74 balls with four fours.

He was eventually fifth out at 123 when he offered a return catch to Stefan Klopper from a delivery which appeared to stick in the pitch.

Clarke's county colleague, Ed Barnard, made 12 as England closed on 212-8 from their 50 overs.

South Africa never looked like reaching their target and Clarke helped the home side make their first breakthrough when he held onto a nick from opener Ryan Rickelton off Matthew Fisher.

They were bowled out for 125 in 48.4 overs with Barnard wrapping up the match by bowling Klopper with a slow ball bouncer which he chopped onto the stumps.

Barnard ended with 1-8 from 3.4 overs.

The match marked the end of England Under-19s operations manager John Abrahams 24 year involvement with the team following a reorganisation of the ECB development programme.