USA Women's U19 overcame a hat-trick from UAE bowler Samaira Dharnidhaka and an early onslaught in the chase from Theertha Satish to wind up with a comfortable 31-run win in their final ICC Women's U19 T20 World Cup warm-up match. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Johannesburg (Twitter @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Top-order batters Laasya Mullapudi and Anika Kolan chipped in with 33 and 31 not out respectively to build a platform which wound up being comfortably enough in the end as USA Women’s U19 defeated UAE by 31 runs at Steyn City School in Johannesburg on Wednesday in their final warm-up match ahead of the start of the 2023 ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup in South Africa. UAE medium pacer Samaira Dharnidhaka produced a quadruple wicket-maiden over, which included a hat-trick off the final three balls of the innings, to restrict USA to 122 for 7, but the series of strikes came too late to affect USA, who by that stage had plenty of runs to defend. 
 
USA faced a brief scare early in the chase when Theertha Satish’s 32 off 19 balls took UAE to 44 for 0 after five overs. But Satish fell off the first ball of the sixth over driving Aditi Chudasama’s offspin to mid-off, and UAE could only muster 47 runs off the final 15 overs once Satish was back in the UAE team tent. 
 

UAE won the toss and chose to bowl first as Mullapudi opened with Disha Dhingra, who was the first wicket to fall in the fifth over, caught behind for 11 after edging an attempted cut against tall left-arm pace bowler Mahika Gaur to make it 20 for 1. Mullapudi carried on on a 31-run stand with Kolan before she fell slicing Lavanya Kenny to point, but not before contributing five boundaries. Kolan and Snigdha Paul produced USA’s best stand of the day, 42 runs for the third wicket before Paul fell in the 16^th driving Kenny to mid-on for 20 to make it 93 for 3 in the 16^th. 
 
A sharp burst from Kolan and Isani Vaghela across the next few overs was aided by some no balls as USA advanced to 122 with six balls to go. That’s when Dharnidhaka worked her magic. She began the final over bowling Vaghela for 15 missing a heave across the line to a good length ball. Ritu Singh entered next and after two dot balls, missed an awkward flick across the line to a back of a length delivery and was bowled without scoring. Geetika Kodali took a heave for midwicket and missed for the stumps to be rattled again, setting up the hat-trick ball to be faced by Pooja Shah. Dharnidhaka finished the innings with a perfect yorker that Shah tried to jam out but the ball sneaked through to hit the stumps for a fourth time in the over, setting off a wild charge to the middle from Dharnidhaka’s teammates scattered around the outfield to celebrate her achievement. 
 
The late burst from Dharnidhaka meant she ended with figures of 4 for 17 in three overs. Kenny had figures of 2 for 15 in three overs while Gaur finished with 1 for 15 in four including a maiden. 
 
After taking eight runs off the first over, Satish rocked Kodali in a 22-run second over that included three fours and a six by Satish, which was a dropped chance at deep midwicket that landed over the rope. But taking pace off the ball with Chudasama wound up being the touch that USA needed to remove Satish as she picked out Singh on the ring at mid-off with a flat drive. 
 
From that point on, UAE’s chase turned aimless, with the only boundary struck over the rest of the match coming off the bat of Dharnidhaka in the 12^th over. They could not find an answer to any of USA’s slow bowling options as Chudasama, Singh, Sai Eyyunni and Bhumika Bhadriraju combined to frustrate the UAE lineup, combining for 16 overs that conceded 51 runs and claimed five wickets. 
 
The only wicket not taken by a bowler was the second in the chase as Singh fired a direct hit to remove Rinitha Rajith in the seventh over for 1. Gaur could not get unstuck after a slow start, making 1 off 9 before a top-edged pull off Chudasama was taken by the bowled waiting for it to come down mid pitch to make it 53 for 3 after 10 overs. 
 
Sanchin Singh was the next wicket to fall in the 17^th, skying a drive off Bhadriraju to Singh on the ring at cover for 7. Dharnidhaka made 22 before she fell in the 18^th, driving Eyyunni’s legspin to Paul on the ring at extra cover. Geethika Jyothis lasted five balls making 2 before she was trapped missing a sweep and given lbw to end Eyyunni’s spell in the 18^th.
 
Kenny, who had retired injured earlier after opening the batting with Satish, resumed her innings and ended 14 not out alongside Vaishnave Mahesh, who finished on 6 not out. Chudasama returned USA’s best figures with 4 for 9 in four overs. Eyyunni had 2 for 14 in four while Bhadriraju took 1 for 11 in four. 
 
USA now has two days off before starting off action in Group A on Saturday against Sri Lanka at Willowmore Park in Benoni. Sri Lanka won both of their official ICC warmup matches in Johannesburg, defeating UAE and Scotland. The match between USA and Sri Lanka is set for a 1:45 pm local start time in Benoni, 6:45 am on the east coast of the USA.