Report: England XI vs Haryana, Day 3
First Published : 10 Nov 2012, 19:17
Last Modified : 10 Nov 2012, 19:17
Ahmedabad, Nov 10: England’s third and final warm-up match, against Haryana, ended as a high-scoring draw. The visiting batsmen got the perfect batting practice before the first Test that begins from November 15 in Ahmedabad. Their bowlers, however, looked average in the one innings they got an opportunity to hone their skills before the big series.
To be fair to England bowlers, out of the 333 runs they conceded in Haryana’s only innings, 144 came from the blade of one man, who remained unbeaten till the end. Rahul Dewan’s fine century apart, the Haryana wickets fell for 189 runs.
Dewan sparkled with a marathon 320-ball innings against the Test class bowlers and denied them his wicket till the end. He started the day with an overnight score of 77. As Dewan continued to anchor the Haryana innings, he received little assistance from his batting partners who kept changing throughout the innings with an alarming frequency. Only No.10 batsman Chanderpal Saini stood firm for 80 balls, scoring 35 runs. Tim Bresnan and Stuart Meaker picked three wickets each for England XI, whereas Samit Patel scalped two. Kevin Pietersen ended Haryana’s innings on 333 runs by dismissing the last man.
For their second essay, England captain Alastair Cook decided to step down the batting order, sending Jonathan Trott (61*) to open with Nick Compton (54*). Both men made the most of the opportunity to spend quality time in the middle. They played out 38 overs for their respective half-centuries and ensured Haryana bowlers remained wicketless on the day.
Brief Scores: England XI 521-10 (Kevin Pietersen 110, Amit Mishra 4-47) and 118-0 (Jonathan Trott 61*) lead Haryana 333-10 (Rahul Dewan 144*, Tim Bresnan 3-67) by 306 runs
