India ‘A’ vs England: Yuvraj claims maiden fifer in drawn encounter.
Mumbai: Comeback man
Yuvraj Singh excelled with his maiden five-wicket haul in first class
cricket as England`s warm-up game against India `A` ended in a tame draw
at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.
The 30-year-old Yuvraj
grabbed five for 94, improving upon his previous best of three for 25,
as India A dismissed the visitors for 426 in their first innings but not
before conceding a 57-run lead.
Yuvraj, who had scalped Kevin
Pietersen and Ian Bell yesterday, added the wickets of Samit Patel
(104), Matt Prior (51) and James Anderson (19) in the morning session
today after England resumed at 286 for four.
India A scored 124
for four in 40 overs before the play was called off ahead of the
scheduled close by mutual consent on the third and final day of the
game.
Openers Abhinav Mukund (3) and Murali Vijay (32), Yuvraj
(14) and Ajinkya Rahane (54) were the batsmen out in the home side`s
second innings.
The openers were claimed by Anderson
while Tim Bresnan sent back Yuvraj, who has come back to top level
cricket after undergoing treatment for cancer that put him out of the
game for close to a year.
Rahane hit six shots to the fence
before Samit Patel had him caught at slip. Captain Suresh Raina (19) and
Manoj Tiwary (2) were the unbeaten batsmen at close.
Raina was
lucky to be dropped on nought by Anderson at second slip off Bresnan and
his stay at the crease later too was unconvincing against Bresnan`s
pace.
England now take on Mumbai A in their second warm-up game
at Navi Mumbai`s D Y Patil Stadium from November 3-5 before proceeding
to Ahmedabad for the third game, a four-day tie, against Haryana from
November 8-11.
The opening Test of the four-match series versus
India is set to commence at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad from
November 15-19.
England were dismissed half-an-hour after lunch
with Yuvraj, who has taken just nine wickets in 37 Test matches,
finishing with his first five-wicket haul in first class.
His previous best was three for 25 in a Ranji Trophy game against Jammu and Kashmir in the 2001-02 season.
Captain
and lanky left-handed opener Alastair Cook and stocky middle-order
batsman Samit Patel notched centuries while Jonathan Trott and Matt
prior hit half tons for England.
Resuming at the overnight 286
for 4, Cook and his overnight fifth wicket partner Patel were then kept
in check by the home side pacers.
Cook departed when Dinda angled
a ball away to which he poked his bat at and edged to keeper Wridhiman
Saha. His partnership with Patel yielded 169 runs and came off 321
balls, pulling the side from 133 for 4 to beyond 300.
The England
skipper must have been satisfied with the long vigil he had, battling
at the crease for six hours and 19 but he added just seven runs in 18
balls today.
The arrival of Prior quickened the pace of scoring
as the Sussex player looked for runs from the beginning even as his
partner Patel preferred to inch his way to the three-figure mark from 82
overnight.
Prior was also lucky to be dropped by Rahane when on 4
as he slashed Dinda to the gully fielder. Patel reached his first 100
on the tour with a single to square leg in the 11th over, having taken
almost 50 minutes to add the 18 runs needed to attain the landmark.
Dinda was unlucky not to have added the wicket of Prior to those of openers Nick Compton and Cook in his bag.
Prior
raced to his 50 in as many balls and with the help of nine hits to the
fence before his forward prod resulted in an edge to slip fielder Raina
off Yuvraj. The left-arm spinner struck again off the last ball in the
over by dismissing Patel for his fourth wicket of the innings.
Patel
was caught by Vijay at covers off a leading edge when trying to flick
the left arm slow bowler. He had stayed for more than four and a half
hours and struck 14 boundaries in 173 balls. The partnership between
Patel and Prior was worth 65 runs in 12.1 overs.
Swann was bowled when a ball from Vinay Kumar kept a bit low as England reached 396 for 8 at lunch.
In
the seventh over after the break, and after the addition of 30 runs,
Yuvraj completed his five wicket haul by having Anderson caught at short
leg for 19.
Tim Bresnan remained unbeaten
with 33 off 61 balls with four fours and a six. The innings ended with
last man, the injured Steven Finn unable to bat.
By tea, India A
wiped off the deficit by reaching 68 for the loss of one wicket in 20
overs. Abhinav Mukund, who made 73 in the first innings, fell for three
in the second over off James Anderson with 4 on the board.
At the end of the second session, Vijay (32 in 58 balls) and Ajinkya Rahane (33 in 49 balls) were the not out batsmen.
Vijay
departed soon after resumption by slashing Anderson to slip fielder
Swann after batting for 87 minutes and striking 4 fours and a six. He
also added 65 runs for the second wicket with Rahane in 76 minutes.
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