Worcestershire CCC spinner Josh Baker was amongst the wickets on his England Under-19 debut and finished on the winning side in today’s (Tuesday’s) ODI international with Sri Lanka in Colombo.
It was a proud day for Josh, and the 18-year-old received his England cap from Head Coach Richard Dawson before the opening game of the five-match series.
He became the SEVENTH member of the current Worcestershire squad to have been selected for the Under-19s after Ed Barnard, Josh Tongue, Josh Dell, Dillon Pennington, Adam Finch and Jack Haynes.
The slow left-arm spinner then picked up two wickets in the space of three balls after England had set a 243 target.
He came into the attack immediately after completing the initial ten over powerplay with Sri Lanka 47-0.
Baker bowled three tight overs for eight runs before breaking through with the last ball of his fourth over when Shevon Daniel attempted a big hit and was bowled.
The second ball of his fifth over brought further success for the former Malvern College pupil as Pawan Pathiraja went for a sweep and was also bowled.
Baker, who first played for Worcestershire at Under-Nines level, and off-spinner Tom Prest bowled in tandem and helped reduce Sri Lanka to 90-5.
The opening spell for Baker produced figures of 7-0-29-2.
He returned to the attack at 167-5 and was unfortunate not to strike again when a top-edged sweep from Dunith Wellalage landed just short of a fielder backward of square.
Baker finished with 2-46 from nine overs, and a late order collapse saw Sri Lanka dismissed for 217 in 47.3 overs as England triumphed by 25 runs.
When England batted, Baker (8) put on 31 valuable runs for the eight-wicket with James Sales.
