Australia vs England U/19 Test match: Day 1 and 2

On Monday morning the future of cricket in Australia and England commenced a one off youth Test match (four days) under overcast skies at the WACA ground in Perth.

Plenty of talent is packed into both of these sides and it promised to be a very good match, however over the first two days Australia have taken the upper hand in Perth.

After winning the toss before play on day one England captain Joe Weatherley decided to bat first, but just over an hour into the game he would have been sitting in the dressing sheds wishing he had have chosen to bowl first as the Australian fast bowlers, mainly Henry Thornton (4/17 off 13.1) proceeded to destroy the English top order reducing them to 5/32 after 18.1 overs of play.

Thornton at one point had 3/12 off his first nine overs as England’s top order were reduced to nothing. The captain, Joe Weatherley, couldn’t do too much himself only scoring three runs from 20 painful deliveries.

After being 4/12 though, England could almost count themselves lucky to get to 5/32. Callum Taylor began the job of steadying the ship by scoring nine before a sixth wicket partnership on either side of the lunch break held the Australian bowlers at bay for 18 overs as wicket keeper Ryan Davies (61) and number seven Aaron Thomason (40) combined to put on 84 runs and bring England back into the game.

The tail then wagged for the English side with Ben Green scoring 23* to keep the English in the game and give them a total final score of all out for 172 in 62.1 overs. For the Australians apart from Henry Thornton, the wickets were shared around with David Grant taking 2/27 from 13 overs, spinner Riley Ayre snagging 2/26 from 12 overs, whilst Matthew Short and Liam Guthrie chipped in with a wicket each.

The Australians then began their innings with a total of 32 overs to bat out on day one After what had happened in the morning at the WACA, England needed early wickets and there was certainly no pressure on Australia to score quickly.

Jake Carder and Sam Heazlett came out to open the batting for Australia whilst Saqib Mahmood opened the bowling for England. Australia then proceeded to get off to the worst start possible with Jake Carder getting out for a three ball duck and leaving Australia at 1/0.

Whilst Australia didn’t collapse anywhere near like their opponent, they still would have been worried in the 24th over after they had lost both captain Jaron Morgan (19) and Matthew Short (8) to leave Australia at 3/85 and having to bat last in the game.

The wickets of Morgan and Short were picked up by Ben Green and Callum Taylor, however England’s joy was short lived as Jake Doran came to the crease with opener Sam Heazlett still at the crease, the pair setting out to build a monster partnership that was unbeaten at the end of play. As day one reached a conclusion, they had put on 18 more to take Australia to a score of 3/103.

Day 1 summary: England 1st inns 10/172 (62.1 overs) (Davies 61, Thomason 40, Thornton 4/17, Ayre 2/26, Grant 2/27), Australia 1st inns 3/103 (32 overs) (Sam Heazlett 68*, Mahmood 1/24)

Day two kicked off on time despite large amounts of rain falling over the WACA overnight. England started in desperate need of wickets, however none came early in the day as Australia, or namely, Sam Heazlett and Jake Doran set about making England pay for their top order collapse early on day one.

Heazlett secured a century and Jake Doran reached 50 as the talented duo held the England bowlers at bay for the whole first session taking Australia to the score of 3/234 off 62 overs as the partnership for the fourth wicket reached 149 at the lunch break, giving Australia a lead of 62.

After lunch England continued their quest to take wickets and run through the Australian middle order, however it just wasn’t to be. Heazlett and Doran continued to torment the English attack as Doran moved onto his century and Heazlett went past 150 in what was turning into a very long day for the English team.

As the run rate past four an over, the English were finally rewarded for their toil as Heazlett was removed for 160 from 219 balls by Brad Taylor. Unfortunately for the English they were then met by Australian wicket keeper Tom Healy who joined with Doran to start building another partnership.

At tea Doran walked off on 143* with Healy in a clear search for quick runs with an almost run a ball 45. Australia had advanced to 4/399.

After tea on day two Doran, a future star of Australian cricket, went about getting to his 150 which he reached off 231 balls. Doran and Healy then attempted to continue finding quick runs.

Eventually Doran was out for 169 whilst Healy ended with 66. Australia then went on to get some more quick runs with the tail before declaring on 7/455 with a lead of 283 and a minimum of 14 overs left on day two

The England openers then set about redeeming themselves after the horror of the first innings, which to this point they have done successfully reaching the score of 0/38 off 15 overs.

Australia will be disappointed to have not picked up a wicket on day two but will be very happy with the situation of the game.

England can’t afford any mistakes over the next two days if they wish to force a result for themselves, but the game isn’t impossible for them to win by any stretch of the imagination.

Day 2 summary: Australia lead by 245 runs: England 1st inns 10/172 (62.1 overs) (Davies 61, Thomason 40, Thornton 4/17, Ayre 2/26, Grant 2/27), Australia 1st inns 7(dec)/455 (105.3 overs) (Doran 169, Heazlett 160, Healy 66, B Taylor 3/78, Mahmood 2/69), England 2nd inns 0/38 (15 overs) (Holden 19, Weatherley 14)

Come back to The Roar tomorrow for the Day 3 report in this youth Test match between Australia and England.