USA Women's U19 allrounder Sainavi Kambalapalli picked up her second Player of the Match award in the Cayman Islands, this time for her batting as she produced the highest individual score of the event in a win over ICC Next Gen. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna/ICC

By Peter Della Penna in Grand Cayman (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
The USA Women’s U19 squad’s ruthless march through the tournament continued with another step forward on Saturday as they brushed aside the ICC Next Gen squad by 114 runs behind an impressive half-century from opener Sainavi Kambalapalli before bowling out ICC Next Gen in reply for 38. Kambalapalli was named Player of the Match for the second time in the tournament after she top-scored with 64 off 41 balls in a knock that included eight boundaries. 
 

USA won the toss and chose to bat first as USA’s top-order batted with relentless efficiency. A 24-run opening stand between Kambalapalli and USA Women’s U19 captain Chetna Pagydyala featured just one dot ball, that of the wicket of Pagydyala when she miscued a drive trying to clear mid-off against ICC Next Gen captain Giulia Souza and wound up being caught on the ring at mid-on by Palak Chauhan. Kambalapalli and Anannya Aneesh then kept motoring ahead during a 78-run second-wicket partnership, the highest of the tournament. Kambalapalli was especially harsh to left-arm pace bowler Clara Valencia in the sixth over, hitting a trio of boundaries over the leg side while Aneesh added one of her own during an 18-run frame to end the Powerplay at 59 for 1. 
 
Kambalapalli played a tip and run single, a constant feature of her innings, off Disha Kaveripakam’s spin in the 11^th to bring up her 50 off 34 balls while having played just three dots to that point. The stand ended when Kaveripakam intercepted a sharp drive off the bat of Aneesh for 27 to start the 13^th over making it 102 for 2. A few balls later, Kambalapalli was dropped at long-on on 54 as the ball not only went through the fielder’s hands but continued bouncing over the rope for her seventh boundary. She then struck the very next ball over wide long-off for her eighth four and ended the over just 36 away from a possible century with seven overs left to get there. But Kambalapalli’s knock ended in very unlucky fashion on the first ball of the 14^th when new batter Pooja Ganesh charged a waist high full toss from Chauhan and slammed it back at the bowler, who dropped a one-handed chance but wound up deflecting the ball back down onto the stumps in the process with Kambalapalli having set off on contact and well out of her crease to be out at 113 for 3. 
 
Ganesh and incoming batter Mahek Desai both hit Saanvi Sood’s medium pace for four in the following over, but USA’s innings lost momentum afterward as they failed to hit another boundary for the rest of the innings until Maahi Madhavan scooped the final ball of the 20^th over for four over square leg. Desai wound up falling to Chauhan for 5 in the 16^th when she picked out Sood at long-on to make it 132 for 4. Ganesh fell seven balls later to offspinner Jashe Trott for 13 when she walked across her stumps to pull over square leg but didn’t get enough elevation on the shot and instead found Chauhan on the ring to make it 136 for 5. Tia Choudhary was runout for 5 midway through the final over for USA’s final wicket to fall when a flick by Hiranya Singh Talan to Alina Emch in the ring was relayed to the bowler Sood who dislodged the bails before Choudhary could scamper back. Madhavan’s last-ball four ensured USA ended on 152 for 6 off their 20 overs. 
 
Chauhan ended with 1 for 20 off four overs as ICC Next Gen’s best bowler on the day. Trott returned 1 for 21 off four overs while Souza had the same figures off just three overs with the new ball. Kaveripakam finished with 1 for 33 off four overs. Valencia wound up as the most expensive bowler on the day conceding 0 for 32 off two. 
 
USA wound up taking a wicket in every single over across the first eight overs of the chase before two in the ninth over to end the match. The first breakthrough came in unusual circumstances when Chauhan’s bat flew out of her hand while attempting to play a pull shot on the second ball of the ICC Next Gen reply. Opening partner Evelyn Muller took off from the non-striker’s end and made it to the striker’s end safely but Chauhan was reluctant to attempt a single without her bat in hand and stayed put as wicketkeeper Talan retrieved the ball from short fine leg and relayed to Madhavan who took off the bails to dismiss Muller without facing a ball. 
 
Chauhan then fell on the first ball of the second over to Neha Alapati’s medium pace after an lbw appeal was upheld on a false shot across the line. Sood went for 4 in the third over when her heave across the line to Madhavan similarly ended up in an lbw decision to make it 12 for 3. Aarabhi Joshi was Alapati’s second victim in the fourth as she poked down the wrong line and was bowled for a second-ball duck. Sahasra Gorla fell to Choudhary in the fifth for a four-ball duck, flicking a low chance that was sharply taken by Madhavan lunging forward at midwicket. Kaveripakam became Alapati’s third wicket in consecutive overs for 5 when she was stuck on the crease missing a flick to the leg side and another lbw appeal was upheld to make it 18 for 6 in the Powerplay. 
 
The second runout of the innings occurred in the seventh over when Souza clipped a ball off Choudhary through fine leg and called for a second run but could not beat a strong relay from Alapati to Talan over the striker’s end stumps to make it 33 for 7 after seven. Two balls into the eighth, Alina Emch played over a full toss from Saanvi Immadi and was struck on the toe to wind up as the fourth lbw dismissal of the innings for a top score of 6 off the bat to make it 33 for 8. 
 
Left-arm wristspinner Dhanya Mikkilineni then came on for the ninth and took wickets off the final two balls of the over to end the match. Trott skied a pull to Madhavan in the ring at midwicket for her second catch before last batter Jazmin Molina waved past a length delivery on her first ball at the crease and was struck on the pads to wind up as the fifth lbw victim on the day. 
 
Alapati ended with figures of 3 for 7 off three overs to finish as USA’s most effective bowler on the day. Mikkilineni claimed 2 for 3 off her only over. Immadi took 1 for 2 off her lone over of legspin while Choudhary finished with 1 for 15 in two overs that included five extras. Madhavan bowled two overs with the new ball to take 1 for 7. 
 
In the early match of the day, Canada held off a bold charge from Argentina to win by 26 runs. Canada made 100 for 5 off their 20 overs as they recovered from 34 to 4 in the eighth over behind a 66-run partnership between Vritti Dahiya and Hasini Santhoshkumar that took Canada through to the final ball of the innings when Dahiya’s straight drive was caught by Julia Andujar for 34 off 50 balls. Andujar’s catch off her own bowling gave her strong figures of 3 for 22 off four overs, though Argentina eventually paid the price for giving away 22 extras including 17 wides and three no balls.
 
Andujar kept Argentina in the hunt with the bat, scoring 30 off 32 balls after entering at No. 5 following a devastating fifth over in which Snigdha Malhotra took three wickets in four balls to reduced Argentina to 19 for 3. Andujar and Vicki Lehmann teamed for a 38-run stand that shifted momentum back to Argentina before Lehmann was runout for 21 going for a tight single to short third. Argentina needed to score at a run a ball with six overs left when Andujar charged Dahiya’s offspin and was bowled to make it 69 for 5. However, that started a slide of five wickets for one run as Argentina’s weak tail was exposed. The last-wicket pair managed to add four runs to prevent Argentina from being bowled out as they ended on 74 for 9. Malhotra ended with 4 for 14 off four overs but Andujar was given Player of the Match honors in a losing cause for her all-round display. 
 
The final day of the tournament concludes on Sunday when Argentina plays ICC Next Gen in the morning match followed by USA v Canada in the afternoon.