Wood sets England up for clean sweep

Luke Wood set England Under-19s up for a clean sweep of their five-match one-day series with South Africa after they breezed to a six-wicket win in the fourth game at Grace Road.

Nottinghamshire's Wood, a left-arm seamer, took 4 for 16, top and tailing England's smart performance with the ball as the tourists were bowled out far too cheaply and could not even last their full allocation of overs.

Wood nipped out both South African openers within the first seven overs and thereafter England chipped away, ensuring South Africa did not develop a partnership significant enough to make progress.

The tourists gained half-centuries from No. 3 Janneman Malan and No. 5 Marques Ackerman but neither found a partner for long and when the latter was run out by Tom Alsop, it brought about a hasty end to the innings with the last four wickets going down for just 14 runs.

Wood took the final wicket to finish with an impressive 4 for 16 from 7.2 overs.

England effectively killed the chase with an opening stand of 86, captain Will Rhodes steadily marshalling progress with a half-century and although the victory was only completed with little over five overs remaining, it was still a comprehensive success.