England Lions vs. India A: Ian Bell gets his form back with 158 run knock
Ian Bell scored a fearless 158 from only 143 balls in a one-day match between Indian A against the England Lions. Ian Bell has not played in England’s senior side for almost two years and made his last appearance in November, 2008. The century has surely earned him a right to gather the attention of the English selectors. Bell was rightly happy with his impressive performance when he said, “I believed if I worked on a few areas I needed to, I would have a chance of getting back in the squad. It has been a week well spent, playing some cricket and trying to get a bit of form. I've felt like I've been hitting the ball well but didn't have a big score behind me so it was nice to go through and have some time in the middle and be ready to go on Thursday”.
This was Bell’s highest score in a domestic one-day international. His century allowed the Lions to post a convincing target of 343-8 at Worcester. The England Lions won the toss and opted to bat first. The Lions innings mostly revolved around two big partnerships at the top of the order; both partnerships were engineered by Ian Bell who at the moment looks in impressive touch. Wicketkeeper Steve Davies and Bell managed to create a good partnership of 107 runs. Steve contributed 54 runs on just 52 balls.
On the other hand, India got the breakthrough from Iqbal Abdullah who trapped him in front of the pads for an lbw. Iqbal Abdullah was the pick of the bowlers from India A as the bowler managed to bag two wickets while bowling with a decent economy of 5.6 runs per over. This breakthrough did not break the momentum of the English batsman especially Ian Bell for that matter. Darren Steven along with Ian Bell made the highest partnership of the innings. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Stevens-c91368 managed 64 runs from 61 balls. Abhimanyu Mithun from India dismissed Steven, but his partnership of 154 runs with Ian Bell had done the damage for India A. The England Lions looked strong with a total of 267 runs on the score board with eight over’s still in hand.
“The Lions still give you the opportunity to come into an England set-up and play 50-over cricket which you don't play in county cricket,” said Bell. “It has been a worthwhile to come back into and try and play as much of this form of the game as possible”, Ian Bell added.
Bell smashed his last 50 runs on just 21 balls. Jaskaran Singh finally dismissed Ian Bell at a personal score of 158 runs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 added another important 24 runs from just 14 balls while the rest of the team crumbled under pressure. England Lions looked confident after setting up a target of 343-8 in their allotted quota of 50 overs.
The English bowlers had to work hard even with an impressive score of 343. Mukund replied with a century; scoring 114 runs at a decent pace off a112 balls. Mukund provided a great platform to his team for a heroic chase. Some aggressive hitting by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 A. With an impressive 46 off 36 balls by Manoj, India A cruised ahead to chase a target that once looked unachievable.
For England Lions, paceman Liam Plunkett stood out with an impressive four wicket collection in the innings. A bye from the last ball of the match allowed India A to tie the score as India A needed 12 runs from last six balls.
India A managed to qualify for tri-series final with the tie favouring their total points. India A was just a point behind http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 A and needed a victory or a tie to ensure a place in final. Since the West Indies A team has gone out of the tournament following the tie, England Lions and India A will once again play each other on Thursday for the tri-series final. English star batsman Alastair Cook is likely to make a comeback for the Lions after missing three games because of back problems.
Tags: