Kent’s County Ground at Beckenham was the venue for the decider of the three match Under 19 One Day International series between England and South Africa.

Although England lost the first match, they levelled before winning well in the third and final encounter.

They were invited first with Ben Dawkins taking the first over. Having scored 180 at the same ground for Kent against Durham in May, he came in full of confidence and crashed boundaries on either side of the ground before going for another two overs later, only to edge to Nkosana Sibiya who took a smart catch at slip. Captain Ralphie Albert followed soon after, and when Will Bennison gave a simple caught and bowled to Ntando Soni, the hosts looked in a spot of difficulty at 41 for 3.

Caleb Falconer then joined Rocky Flintoff, son of former England all-rounder Andrew, and brother of Kent’s Corey. Falconer played the prominent role and hit 79 out of a partnership of 105 in eighteen overs before holing out.

Flintoff fell for a good 55 and South Africa again smelt blood as the hosts slumped to 207 for 8 with ten overs remaining. Manny Lumsden came to the rescue with 38 from 25 balls and James Minto scored 21 not out before England were bowled out in the final over for 271. Michael Kruiskamp was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 44, supported by Soni with 2 for 55 while Paul James mopped up at the end, taking 2 for 12,

Despite Minto conceding just five runs from his first three overs, South Africa raced to forty from six and a half overs before Sibiya gave up a simple caught and bowled to the Durham left arm bowler. At the end of the ten over power-play, Albert brought himself on and Ali Farooq came on at the other end soon after, and the two left arm spinners pinned them back by starving them of boundaries.

While Albert kept it tight, Farooq nibbled out the middle order. During this period, Dawkins was fielding at long off at both ends, seemingly happy to do so. His liking of the position was demonstrated when he caught Vihan Pretorius off Farooq, just inside the boundary rope.

Opener, Jason Rowles, played pretty much a lone role, and when he was sixth out for 85, with the score on 156, it looked pretty much over for the Proteas. James was the only other batter to score over 20 before he also holed out to the Tunbridge Wells man, Dawkins, at long off, off the bowling of Jack Nelson. Soon after, they lost their final wicket, 76 runs short, with six and a half overs unused.

Minto ended with 3 for 21, Farooq and Nelson both took 3 for 43, and Lumsden 1 for 39. Although wicket-less, Albert (10 overs for 27), and Charlie Taylor, playing his first match in the series (6 overs for 13), both played their part by keeping it tight.

Now with the One Day Internationals done, the two Under 19 squads can start to prepare for their test series, starting at Beckenham on Friday.