England U19s hold out for draw after Hamza Shaikh hundred

A thrilling Under-19 Test match between England and India at Beckenham ended in draw, after England reached 270 for 7 at stumps on the final day.

India set England a target of 350 to win from 63 overs, after making 248 in the second innings: Vihaan Malhotra hit 63 and a there was a late charge by RS Ambrish, who made 53, while Archie Vaughan took 6 for 84 after bowling unchanged from the City End.

After losing three early wickets Hamza Shaikh and Ben Mayes gave England hope of a win with a stand of 119. Mayes went for 51, but Shaikh made 112 before he was run out. When Thomas Rew went for 50 India scented blood, but Ralphie Albert and Jack Home batted out 11.5 overs to secure the draw.

India began the final day with a lead of 229 and seven wickets remaining, with Malhotra and Abhigyan Kundu the not out batters on 34 and nought respectively. The former took just 15 minutes reach his half-century with a cover driven four off Vaughan, but he was caught behind by Rew trying to fend off Alex Green and a downpour then caused a 30-minute delay.

When play resumed Rew took two more catches before lunch. Green strangled Kundu down the leg side for 11 and Rahul Kumar tried to hook James Minto and gloved him behind, also for 11.

Vaughan bowled Mohamed Enaan for 5 and got his fifth when Rocky Flintoff caught Henin Patel for a four-ball duck, grabbing a top-edged sweep one-handed at the second attempt, leaving India on 209 for 8 at lunch.

Deepesh Devendran was Vaughan's next victim, caught behind for 4, but Ambrish went on the attack, taking 12 from one Vaughan over and reaching his 50 after a misfield before he was run out by Mayes.

It looked evenly poised, but India made early inroads. Perhaps exhausted by his marathon bowling spell, Vaughan was out for just 3, caught behind off Devendran. Jaydn Denly attempted to hook Ambrish and was caught on the boundary by Vaibhav Suryavanshi for 19, while Flintoff tried to drive Singh and was caught by Chavda at long-on for 11.

Yet Mayes was on 7 when Devendran missed a difficult chance to catch him one-handed off and by tea England were 83 for 3 and at that point the chase was still on.

Shaikh brought up his 50 with a six driven back over Singh's head, but England had a major let off when both batters ended up at the keepers end and India threw at the wrong set of stumps, allowing Mayes to scramble back to safety. He reached 50 with an elegant swept two but slashed at Ambrish and was caught behind. Any thoughts that the teams might shake hands were banished when Rew came in and immediately went on the attack.

When Shaikh scrambled a single from Devendran to reach his century England looked favourites, but two run-outs tilted the game back in India's favour. Singh got Shaikh and Ayush Mhatre got Ekansh Singh for 1, both chasing suicidal seconds, before Rew holed out to Malhotra and was caught by Kumar. However, Albert and Home survived with few serious alarms.