The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Saturday that they have appointed an all-female match officials panel for the final of the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, which will be held on Sunday at JB Marks Oval.
Vanessa De Silva will serve as match referee, with Candace La Borde and Sarah Dambanevana serving as on-field umpires. The TV umpire will be Dedunu De Silva, and the fourth umpire will be Lisa McCabe.
After two weeks of action featuring 16 teams, the inaugural Women’s U19 T20 World Cup concludes on Sunday with the final between India and England beginning at 13:45 local time (5:15pm IST) in Potchefstroom.
India qualified for the final after a brilliant performance against New Zealand in the first semi-final, which they won by eight wickets on Friday. Player of the Match, leg-spinner Parshavi bowled an incredible spell of 3/20 in four overs, assisting India in restricting New Zealand to 107 in 20 overs. In response, opener Shweta Sehrawat demonstrated her run-making prowess by hitting her third half-century of the tournament, remaining unbeaten on 61 off 45 balls to complete the chase in 14.2 overs.
In the second semifinal, England defeated Australia in an incredible thriller, winning by three runs to advance to the title match. With their powerful batting line-up faltering by posting 99 all out and leaving Australia exactly 100 runs at less than a run a ball to win, England defended a modest target with an intense effort in the field and with the ball.
Player of the match Hannah Baker led the charge, with her beguiling spell yielding figures of 3/10 off four overs, with skipper Grace Scrivens supporting her with figures of 2/8 off 3.4 overs and catching Maggie Clark lbw for a duck.
The low run rate in the chase and Amy Smith’s run-a-ball 26 (three fours) kept Australia in the game, but when she holed out to long-off off Josie Groves’ bowling with the score on 77, England had all but set up a meeting with India in the final at Potchefstroom on Sunday.
