Kent duo Ryan Davies and Hugh Bernard played leading roles as England Under-19s ended their youth one-day international series against Australia with an impressive 82-run win in Perth.
Davies hit a defiant 81 to lead a spirited England fightback, after they had been eight for three, before Bernard blew the Australia top-order over with figures of 5-14.
The 18-year-old right-armer completed his wicket haul, and England’s victory, when he fittingly had last man Sam Grimwade caught behind by wicketkeeper Davies to bowl Australia out for 150 in 40.1 overs.
“It came out pretty good today,” Bernard told ecb.co.uk.
“My plans were just to smash a good length and create pressure with dot balls and that’s what happened today.
“We built pressure and that’s where the wickets came from.”
While England had already conceded the five-game series, victory meant they would return home tomorrow with a respectable 3-2 scoreline after they drew the one-off Test at the WACA Ground to begin the month-long tour.
That has supplied plenty of reason for optimism ahead of Australia’s return tour this summer.
“We knew the series was lost but we wanted to fight back and give the Aussies something to look at for when they come back to us,” said Bernard, who was playing his second match of the series.
“We wanted to show we weren’t just going to lie down, we gave them a really tough fight and now they’ve got to look at that.”
England needed Davies' resilience with the bat to haul them away from their early trouble as he joined captain Aneurin Donald in a 69-run fourth-wicket stand.
Aaron Thomason then hit his second successive fifty as he combined in half-century stands with Davies and Brad Taylor as England set a target of 232 for eight.
Bernard then struck early to remove Sam Heazlett before sending Sam Harper and Patrick Page back to the pavilion in the same over as Australia slipped to 29 for three.
Bernard returned at the end to knock over the tail after Taylor and Max Holden had claimed two wickets apiece.
“It is a brilliant feeling,” Bernard added.
“Especially after coming in late into the squad as well. To get my second chance to perform, obviously I’m really happy.
Newly-announced Aussie NPS quick Henry Thornton has 2-2 and ENG U19s are 3-14! Follow LIVE: http://t.co/mLgQfO2ueCpic.twitter.com/iDdUXpPEE7
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) April 23, 2015
“The Aussies have a very strong team. The series didn’t go our way but we have taken a lot from the series.
"There's been a lot to learn. We’re also not using Dukes balls - we use the Kookaburra balls and ball management is really crucial out here.
"It has been a great experience playing in a different country under different conditions. I can take that into the future.
“I’m pretty happy with the way I’ve gone in the series and in training I’ve had some pretty decent reports from management.
“I’ll be definitely looking to go back and have a decent impact at Kent and then look to that return series and then the World Cup.”
ECB Head of the England Development Programme Andy Hurry was pleased to end a tough tour on a high, adding: “This series has provided highly-challenging competitive opportunities against strong opposition in difficult conditions.
“The quality of the Australian side has stretched our players and presented real moments of pressure and therefore learning opportunities.
“The players can now look forward to commencing their county seasons back home, and as a group we look forward to the return series against Australia Under-19s in August, when we intend to make the most of our home advantage.”
Australia Under-19s' reciprocal tour of England will also consist of five one-day matches and one four-day fixture.
The four-day match will be played at the Emirates Durham ICG from August 4–7, followed by 50-over matches on August 11 (South Northumberland CC), 14 (Chesterfield CC), 17 (the 3aaa County Ground, Derbyshire), 20 (Grace Road, Leicestershire), and 22 (New Road, Worcestershire).