England lose U19 World Cup final as 14-year-old smashes 175 for India

Suryavanshi was dismissed in the 26th over, caught behind by the England captain, Thomas Rew, off the bowling of Hampshire’s Manny Lumsden while going for a slog sweep, and was congratulated by England’s players, who shook his hand as he walked back to the pavilion.

His 15 sixes in this final meant he cleared the rope 30 times in the tournament, breaking the junior World Cup record held by South Africa’s Dewald Brevis, who struck 22 sixes in the 2022 edition. Suryavanshi also became the first batsman to hit 100 sixes in youth ODIs (from 25 innings).

Despite being only 14, Suryavanshi has already caught the attention of the cricket world, having become the youngest player to score a century in men’s T20 cricket, making 101 off 38 balls for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League.

This is not the first time that England Under-19 have been on the end of a destructive innings by Suryavanshi — he scored his maiden century for India Under-19 during their tour to England last summer, off only 78 balls at Worcester.

Although they were set a record chase of more than 400, England pegged India back well in the second half of their innings, when India scored only 161 runs in 25 overs and lost seven wickets.

England were left requiring a mammoth 8.2 an over and, after the early loss of the opener Joe Moores, a partnership of 72 in eight overs between Ben Mayes and Ben Dawkins was keeping them in the game. Dawkins fell in the 21st over for a well-struck 66 from 56 balls, which sparked a collapse in which England lost four wickets in eight balls for three runs, leaving them 177 for seven after 22 overs.

The eighth-wicket partnership of 92 from 13.3 overs between Falconer and Durham’s James Minto kept England’s hopes just about alive and Falconer proved what a talent he is with an exceptional 115 from 66 balls. The South African-born batsman is yet to make his senior debut for Middlesex due to injury but is very highly rated and his innings, which contained nine fours and seven sixes, took the game much deeper than it might have gone after the collapse.

His was the last wicket to fall, giving India the win with 9.4 overs to spare. India have now won the Under-19 World Cup six times, while England have won it only once, in 1998, with a side that contained Rob Key, Graeme Swann and Owais Shah.

Although the result in the final was disappointing, it has been a good tournament for some of England’s young stars. Mayes, the Hampshire opener, finished as the tournament’s leading runscorer with 444 at an average of 74, and Rew was the fourth-highest runscorer, with 330 at an average of 66. The Hampshire seamer Lumsden was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, with 16 at an average of 16.06.

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