Pick upbeat after thrilling tie

Alex Wakely hits out during his blistering innings of 64 from just 47 balls at Hove

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England Under-19s coach Andy Pick confessed his side's heart-stopping tie against New Zealand in the third one-day international was “my most exciting game as coach”.

Following a nail-biting conclusion that saw England snatch a tie from the jaws of defeat, Pick hailed the character of his side after they took two wickets in two balls to draw with New Zealand having needed only one run to win.

"It was a fantastic game," he told ecb.co.uk.

“Liam Dawson bowled brilliantly to pick up five wickets and Hamza Riazuddin took a fantastic, swirling catch at third man after Greg Morgan got a thick outside edge to put them nine down even though they only needed one to win.

“The two batsman crossed whilst the ball was in the air so the new batter was not on strike, but Nick Beard moved across his stumps to try and flick it behind square only to have his middle stump knocked back.

“We've had some tight finishes and from a pleasing point of view this comes second only to the win we had against Bangladesh in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup.”

It has been a profitable summer for England's young pretenders thus far after they began their summer schedule with a commendable draw against Bangladesh A, an encounter that Pick enjoyed in more ways than one.

“The game at Loughborough was decimated by the weather to a certain degree, but from our point of view it was a privilege to be given a game of that standing.

“That the U19 team are deemed good enough to be given a game against an incoming A team is very exciting for us as a department and to have the chance to hopefully provide worthy opposition to incoming A sides in the future is certainly a bonus."

Whilst some may have thought pitting a group of teenagers against international cricketers may have proved a bridge too far, Pick was delighted with the attitude of his players in approaching the tough task.

"It was great preparation for us to take into the New Zealand Test matches," he acknowledged.

Andy Pick has been impressed with the progression of England's youngsters over the course of the summer

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"We are always looking for them to step up and to see how they handle certain pressures.

"We don't generally get our players together before the incoming tour because of county commitments and the like so to get the players in and focused together was a great bonus."

The preparation proved doubly vital in the following two Test series against a visiting New Zealand side as England capitalised on their good form to catch the tourists cold and inflict an innings and 36 run defeat in the opening encounter and subsequently win the series 1-0.

"The weather was again disappointing and we managed to get the game finished probably 15 minutes before a game-ending deluge came and flooded Taunton.

"It was great to win and we dominated the Test match so we deserved it. We needed to bowl them out and the wicket was slow but Will Beer got us off to a great start with a wicket from the first ball of the fourth morning and we carried on from there to turn the screw.

"The other Test match was drawn on a fairly flat wicket at Worcester so it proved crucial for us to win that game."

The one-day series that preceded the Test success has also seen Pick's side take the plaudits so far, although he offered a frank assessment on the outcome that kept England 1-0 up with two games still to play.

"If I'm honest, from a coaching and development point of view, we probably deserved to lose on Monday, but you don't see many teams hold their nerve and get anything from a game in that situation so it was good to see."

Opener Alex Hales stands tall during his innings of 77 from 64 balls that gave England the ideal start at Hove

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It speaks volumes of the professionalism and dedication attached to the U19 set-up that Pick is confident an overriding factor in England's performance was largely related to a session with ECB fielding coach Richard Halsall.
"We did a really good fielding session the night before," he explained.

"Richard came down and we had a great session under the lights and that showed when we fielded in the actual game, no more so when Hamza took that catch at the end.

"It's brilliant when you can say to the team that there is a direct relation to him taking a brilliant catch and saving the game and from an education and learning point of view that was a great thing to see."

With attention now being afforded to the England U19 series after a low key tour so far, their focus now turns to the two remaining games at Northampton.

With the pair of games due to be shown live on Sky Sports, Pick is confident his players can handle the pressure of showcasing their talents to a worldwide audience and seal a convincing series win in both formats of the game.

He added: "Both games we have left are live on TV, which gives another interesting twist to see how it affects the players.

"Our batting is the one area that gives us a bit of concern but if we can get that right and field like we did in the last game hopefully we can come out on top."