Tour Match: India 'A' v England XI at Jaipur, 27-29 Nov 2001 CricInfo Live Report

Tour Match: India 'A' v England XI at Jaipur, 27-29 Nov 2001
Samanth Subramanian & Santhosh S

England XI 2nd innings: Tea - Day 3,
India 'A' 2nd innings: Lunch - Day 3,
Live Reports from previous days

ENGLAND IS 27 RUNS AWAY FROM VICTORY IN JAIPUR

Nasser Hussain, with an unbeaten 58, and a hard hitting unbeaten knock of 27 by Andrew Flintoff, have taken England to 27 runs short of victory at the tea break.

Resuming on 22/1 after the luncheon break, Marcus Trescothick started off in a very aggressive fashion, hitting half a dozen boundaries to race to 30. England lost his wicket caught behind by Ajay Ratra off the bowling of an effervescent Iqbal Siddiqui. The batsman was not too happy after his dismissal, perhaps at the manner he got out.

Ramprakash, as always looked very positive in his stay at the wicket, scoring 22. He was undone by a ball from Joshi; the ball kept very low as Ramprakash was shaping to play a square cut.

The story of the afternoon has been the resilient batting of Hussain. After the lucky escape in the first session, Hussain grew in confidence and played some rasping drives. There was also trademark pull of his hips to send the ball crashing into the square leg fence.

Andrew Flintoff started off with caution and then threw the same into the air, smashing Sunil Joshi for a couple of boundaries. He was not done with Joshi yet, giving the bowler the charge to loft him over long-on for a massive six. So far, he has hit three fours and a six in his whirlwind knock. In the meanwhile, Hussain has hit six boundaries and a six in his innings.

The post-tea session will be a formality for the tourists, with very few runs to knock off for their first win on this tour.

WHITE, FLINTOFF FINISH OFF INDIA 'A'

India 'A' resumed on 75/3 on the third and final day of the three-day match against England at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. They were finally bowled out for 109, thanks to brilliant spells of fast bowling by Craig White (13-3-31-5) and Andrew Flintoff (17-727-3).

It was Flintoff who struck first, with the seventh ball of the morning, when Yere Goud (13) was caught behind. Rashmi Ranjan Parida (13) was the next to go, trying to pull a short delivery from White and top-edging to Nasser Hussain. Ajay Ratra perished with the next delivery for a duck, cleaned up by White, who was on a hat-trick and also had five wickets in the bag.

Abhijit Kale, who batted brilliantly in the first innings, didn't do much in the second; he survived a loud and long shout for lbw by Flintoff but was soon caught by Mark Butcher off the bowling of Flintoff for just three. In the meanwhile, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, much renowned for his tenacity in the middle, took a severe blow on his wrist and had to go off the field retired hurt for nought; he did not return to bat again.

Skipper Sunil Joshi (13) hung around for a while and fell into a carefully laid trap, caught by Trescothick off Flintoff. Iqbal Siddiqui tried to celebrate his inclusion in the national squad with some attempted heavy blows, but to no avail. He was the last man to dismissed, caught behind off Richard Johnson for just one.

India 'A' thus set a target of 173 runs for a win, and England got off to a disastrous start, losing the important wicket of Butcher. Butcher played from the crease off Dodda Ganesh, the ball flying off the glove to Gautam Gambhir at forward short-leg who took a sharp reflex catch.

New batsman Hussain was involved in a controversial decision. He pulled a ball high to long-on where Siddiqui completed a good catch. But he threw the ball back in to avoid it being declared a six, as he was falling over the boundary line. The TV replays suggested that the catch had been taken and that fielder had full control over the ball. Umpires gave Hussain not out, much to the dismay of the fielders. At lunch, England were 22/1, with Hussain on seven and Trescothick on nine.