Narrow Loss to SA at Under 19 National Championships

The Northern Territory's fragile batting again let them down when a win over long-time rivals South Australia beckoned on Day 3 of the 2023 Male under-19 Cricket Championships.

The Territory lost by 47 runs in Albury after batting themselves into a competitive position when they reached 3-107 after 25 overs in pursuit of 217 to win.

But a middle order collapse when five wickets fell for 21 runs, including wicketkeeper batter Dhanvi Vemulapalli for one, Charlie Kemp without scoring, Luke Tully for two and Menzies for two tore the heart out of the run chase.

Victorian import Arjun Sehrawat showed his new teammates how to bat in a pressure situation, hitting an unbeaten 61 with four boundaries after coming to the crease at the fall of the third wicket.

The Strike did well to restrict the Croweaters to 6-216 after bowling first on a wicket that offered little assistance to the faster bowlers.

South Australian openers Kane Halfpenny (92) and Rudransch Sharma (35) put on 75 for the first wicket before off-spinner Everett Oxenham clean bowled Sharma.

Skipper Tom Menzies' 10 overs of fast medium bowling produced two wickets for 32 runs, while Oxenham's 10 overs cost him 37 runs and leg-spinner Sehrawat plied his trade for 1-35 from eight overs.

Territory coach Udara Weerasinghe called the defeat a lost opportunity, similar to the first round match against a powerful Victorian Metro side when the Strike lost 3-10 from a position where they were about to launch a serious assault on the Victorian's total.

"It came down to stability in the batting lineup both times, a focus on playing straight and being able to score runs on those type of wickets,'' Weerasinghe said.

"The ball was hurrying through and keeping a bit low, it's why I asked the batters to get out there and create partnerships while scoring runs by selecting the right ball.

"We can guide them and offer words of advice, but at the end of the day they have to go out there and find a way to get the best results.''
Next on the Strike's agenda is Monday's match against the strong NSW Metro side. 

South Australian 6-216  (K Halfpenny 92, R Sharma 35, T Gill 29, T Menzies 2-32, A Sehrawat 1-35, E Oxenham 1-37) d Northern Territory 169 (A Sehrawat 61no, A Nadeem 50, B Ray 4-27, S McVann 2-26) by 47 runs.