England Men’s Learning Disability team beat Australia in the final by eight wickets at The Wanderers to clinch the tri-series, making it seven wins out of seven in the competition.
Chasing a target of 141, captain Chris Edwards scored an unbeaten half-century and hit the winning runs to ensure his team have won every series since 2010.
Surrey’s Jonathan Gale and Tayler Young featured in each of England’s victories and were an integral part of the triumphant campaign in South Africa.
In a group-stage fixture against Australia on Friday, Young claimed his 50th wicket for the Three Lions. Throughout the series, the pacer set the stage for his side on a number of occasions, often taking the new ball, and went on to collect six wickets.
A constant in the top order, Gale scored 128 runs at a healthy average of 32, including an unbeaten fifty in the first victory against South Africa.
The Final
Having won every group game of the competition convincingly, England were the favourites heading into Sunday’s final.
Despite England having won the last two games batting second, Australia opted to bat first and made a decent fist of putting together a competitive total.
Their innings of 140-5 was anchored by Jamie Phillips and Lachlan Mitchell, and at the half-way stage the Australian team would have felt happy at having something to defend.
England’s tournament has been marked by their opening batters dominating. Both Dan Bowser and Ronnie Jackson have scored hundreds, and top-order runs have been the order of the day.
Jackson and Bowser got England off to a good start, but the loss of two wickets put Edwards’ team under a bit of pressure. The skipper, however, steered the ship from there on and took his side home, alongside Bowser, with little alarm.
Edwards hit the winning runs with over three overs to spare, and signalled another triumphant day for the England Men’s Learning Disability team.
Dan Bowser, unbeaten at the end alongside Edwards, earned both the Batter of the Series and Player of the Series awards – with an average of 132 – and Kieran McKinney received the Bowler of the Series award.
