NAGPUR, India, CMC – Bermudian Delray Rawlins enhanced his growing reputation when he rescued England Under-19s from a calamitous start to the second and final Youth Test with a magnificent unbeaten century against India at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here yesterday.
Bermudian Delray Rawlins … stuck a face-saving, unbeaten hundred for England.
England lost three wickets inside the first three overs with only one run on the board but Rawlins, batting at number four, dug them out of a big hole, firstly with Ollie Pope and then Will Jacks, to finish on 124 not out as the tourists closed the day on a respectable 243 for five.
Rawlins has so far struck 16 fours and two sixes and faced 254 balls.
Rawlins added 98 for the fourth wicket with Pope, who made 42, and although England lost a fifth wicket at 112 when Euan Woods was out for six, the Bermudian forged an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 131 with Jacks, who finished unbeaten on 66 with 10 fours from 153 balls.
Last week’s first Youth Test at the same venue ended in a draw with England pressing for victory.
England, who won the toss yesterday, lost Harry Brook for one to the seventh ball of the innings, George Bartlett went to medium pacer Rishab Bhagat’s next delivery while captain Max Holden also fell for a duck in the third over bowled by left-arm medium pacer Kanishk Seth.
In the first Test, Bartlett made 179 and Holden 170 as England piled up 501 for five declared in their first innings, boosted by an unbeaten 70 on debut from Rawlins.
Rawlins, who is on the books of English county side Sussex, is hoping his form in India will help him break into the first team this summer. He helped his cause with an unbeaten century and a knock of 96 in a five-match one-day international series preceding the two Tests which India won 3-1.
