Cricket Update: England Lions beat India-A in the final to win England-A tri Series
England Lions won the England-A Tri Series after beating http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 A in the final by 5 wickets at the county Ground at New Road.
England Lions won the toss and elected to field first looking to make use of the seamer friendly conditions, but the start from India-A side proved otherwise.
Openers Mukund and Dhawan put on a solid opening stand scoring at almost 7 runs per over, the Indian pair made short work of the Lions opening attack.
Mukund who had earlier scored a brilliant century against England lions in the same tournament was once again looking in great touch, in typical sub continental style he was brutal off his legs, while Dhawan was keener on using the field restrictions and kept clipping the ball over the circle.
The 2 added 68 for the first wicket before Dhawan was caught behind off the bowling of Plunkett after scoring 39 runs from 31 balls with 8 boundaries.
The next man in Rahane did not last that long and was caught by Trego off the bowling of Mahmood after scoring just 12 runs from 16 with 2 boundaries.
Pujara then joined Mukund at the crease, the pair added 37 runs for the 3rd wicket before Mukunbd was caught by Trego on the bowling of Parry, and Mukund scored 62 runs from 77 balls with 8 boundaries.
Pujara then took on the role of aggressor and alongside Tiwary put on 48 runs; Tiwary was caught by Stevens off the bowling of Parry for 24 runs from 41 balls with 2 fours.
Wicketkeeper Saha was in next, but was sent back quickly after scoring just 5 runs from 15 balls with no boundaries.
Pujara while on the other end continued to pile on the runs, he got little support down the order from Pandaey(13) and Jaskaran Singh(15), Pujara though remained not out on 87 from 89 balls with 4 boundaries and 2 massive sixes.
India –A ended their innings at a good score of 278 for the loss of 7 wickets.
In reply, England lions lost their first wicket early; Aliaster Cook was out LBW to Unadkat after stroking a boundary.
Gale came in at number 3 and looked in good touch right from the start, the other opener Davies and Gale put on a good partnership and put on 76 runs for the 2nd wicket. The scoring rate though was not very high, as Indian bowlers maintained a good line and did not let the English batsmen get away easily.
The required rate that was fraction above 5 at the start had gone close to 6, the partnership was broken when Davies was Caught and bowled by Dhawan, he scored 55 runs from 61 balls with 9 boundaries.
While Gale managed to put together another good stand alongside Bopara, the pair added 68 runs and scored at around 5 per over.
Bopara was dismissed with the score at 148, he scored 30 runs from 39 balls with 2 boundaries, and he was bowled by Unadkat.
With the required rate going above 6 runs or over for the final 20 overs or so, there was a need for some quick runs.
That is exactly what http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Stevens-c91368 provided, he came in and started middling the ball, Gale was also stepping it up and started getting more boundaries, while Stevens also kept up with the run rate.
Gale was finally dismissed after scoring 90 from 114 runs with 10 boundaries. Stevens though continued to play the big shots and almost got his team home, with 68 from 53 balls, with 9 fours and a six.
He was dismissed with 19 runs needed from 20 balls, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 in the end guided the team to victory with 8 balls to spare, and England Lions won the Tri Series.
Tags: