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[cricket_news]

Mitchell Marsh helps Australia U-19 level series
21 April 2009, 8:47 am



Australia Under-19 7 for 223 dec (Beaton 70, Kundan 4-72) and 4 for 130 (Marsh 69*, Patel 3-32) beat India Under-19 165 (Meenaria 51, Richardson 5-28) and 184 (Meenaria Sharma 81, Doran 4-25) by six wickets

Scorecard

Mitchell Marsh scored an unbeaten half-century to lead Australia Under-19 to a series-leveling win on the third day against India Under-19 at the WACA in Perth. Chasing a score of 130, Australia reached the target with six wickets in hand.

The hosts began the day on 19 for 0, needing only another 108 for victory. The Indian bowlers, however, caused a scare by taking early wickets. They took four wickets for 14 runs to reduce Australia to 4 for 40. Harshal Patel picked up 3 for 32 with the new ball. Patel Marsh, though, ensured there was no further damage. He scored 69 off 102 balls and shared a 90-run stand with James Garrett to complete the victory.

"When we were 4-40 we were in a bit of strife but Joel [Garrett] and I put on a good partnership and it got us over the line in the end," Marsh said. "It's been a great tour for everyone and that's why we have these types of series so we can learn and adapt to different situations."

"Coming over to Perth we knew we were 0-3 and we really wanted to get a win on the board and the boys came together well," Marsh said. "The wicket was a lot bouncier and Kane Richardson bowled extremely well in the first innings of this match taking five wickets which was a great reward for him. He worked hard in Hobart but things just didn't quite go his way."

Kane Richardson was named Player of the Match for his five-wicket haul. "Hobart was a bit disappointing, not just for myself but for the whole bowling group - we didn't really execute what we wanted to - but as soon as we got over here and into training we really emphasized hitting our lengths and tried to make the batsman play," he said. "We tried to get them to play all the time or where ever possible and it paid off for us this game."

Australia coach Brian McFadyen said it was a learning experience for the players. "It was a really impressive turn around from when we were in Hobart," McFadyen said. "To be honest, I don't think we really expected to come here and win two games and to win them convincingly was a very pleasing result.

"I was really very, very impressed with how our guys were able to talk about delivering plans, and one of those plans was using their feet to spinners, but more importantly, their courage to actually integrate that into their game, experiment with it and further develop those skills, learning from the experience. To see that these players are prepared to make adjustments to their game and have the courage to apply that in a match situation was really pleasing."



Source: India news from Cricinfo