Beer and Dawson spin out New Zealand

England Under-19s 512 for 8 dec beat New Zealand Under-19s 234 and 148 (Colson 42, Beer 6-53, Dawson 4-39) by an innings and 130 runs
Scorecard

Once play got under way, it seemed only the weather might stop England Under-19s as they totally dominated the last stage of their match against New Zealand. Their spin bowlers cut through the visitors' batting like a knife through butter, and they met with little resistance in dismissing them for 148, winning the match by an-innings-and-130 runs.

After three days of almost continuous sunshine, Taunton found 'normal service' resumed on the Tuesday, with blustery conditions and rain constantly threatening. A shower just before the scheduled start meant a half-hour delay, and England began the attack with their spinners, Will Beer and Liam Dawson - leg-breaks and slow left-arm respectively - who were destined to bowl without a break.

Beer struck with the first ball of the day: Harry Boam flicked at it outside the off stump and the appeal for a catch at the wicket was upheld, sending him back for 17. His overnight partner Fraser Colson played a good on-drive for four, but then paid the penalty for blatantly padding up to Beer and was trapped lbw for 42.

After that it was virtually a procession of wickets, five going down in the first 45 minutes. All the batsmen did at least get off the mark, but could do little more than that, appearing quite out of their depth against this bowling in these conditions. Beer and Dawson bowled very well and with considerable accuracy, and so they should have done, considering they were scarcely challenged. An occasional aggressive stroke was played, but rarely with any conviction or plan of attack, and it always appeared only a matter of time before the next wicket went down.

The longest partnership lasted 25 minutes, an eight-wicket stand between James Neesham and Joseph Austin-Smellie, which added just five runs in that time. The latter in fact took 44 balls to get his first run. It was finally broken when Neesham (5 off 34 balls) drove loosely at Beer and was well caught at slip. England looked likely to clean up the match by lunch but, with perhaps two overs possible before the interval, the rain returned.

Again, half an hour was lost before play resumed, and it took little over five minutes before the last man, Anurag Verma, got a leading edge to Dawson, to be well caught by Ian Saxelby diving in the covers. Beer finished with 6 for 53 and Dawson 4 for 39; it is a rare and pleasant sight to see all the wickets in an innings fall to spin. The scoring rate for the innings was below two an over, and the accurate Dawson's 39 runs came off 34.2 overs.

The New Zealand players were reportedly deeply dejected by their disappointing performance, and are well aware of their own shortcomings. They have started at the bottom and the only way is up. On the other hand, as ambassadors for their country they earned much credit from their hosts at Somerset, who could not say the same for all their English opponents. The only discordant note was the slowness with which some of their batsmen left the field when given out. Some of the England players indulged in a little disappointing gamesmanship on the field, which the umpires preferred to ignore. Unfortunately, public interest in this match appeared to be small.