Related Link : England in India 05/06
England had a bright start on their tour of India with a victory in their practice match against CCI President’s XI in Mumbai. The Cricket Club of India XI was a complete mismatch to the touring side as the hometeam were bowled out in less than 27 overs in their 2nd innings. England’s batting was not spectacular and no batsman of theirs could make a three figure score.
The 3-day match played at the Brabourne Stadium saw the two sides mutually agreeing on using 16 players each with 11 to bat and 11 to field. The visitors won the toss and their innings folded 1 run short of 300. Opener Strauss made 51, their skipper Vaughan made 54, the best batsman was however Ian Bell who played the spinners with ease scoring 78 and batting out 186 balls out in the middle. A weak CCI XI failed to get past England’s 1st innings total to get bowled out for 251 as they fell apart to the left arm spin of Ian Blackwell. Blackwell who has replaced the injured Ashley Giles took four wickets. Mumbai’s wicket keeper Vinayak Samant was the top scorer with 53.
In the 2nd innings, Marcus Trescothick returned after his absence in the first and scored a stroke filled 88. Blackwell was the other batsman to score a half century as the left hander showed his big hitting ability by sending six balls out of the ground. With no one getting the big scores, England XI folded for 265 in just under 62 overs leaving CCI a target of 314. Now the English bowlers decided to show their true class as they ripped through the homeside to bowl them out for a paltry 75. Simon Jones, Flintoff and Harmison had fiery spells and the weak CCI side couldn’t give any resistance and crashed to a 238-runs defeat.
Brief Scores :
England XI 299 all out in 89.3 overs (Bell 78 Vaughan 54 Strauss 51 Collingwood 47, Waingankar 3/53 Bachani 2/66) & 265 all out in 61.5 overs (Trescothick 88 Blackwell 59 Geraint Jones 30, Redkar 3/64 Bachani 2/29) bt Cricket Club of India President’s XI 251 all out in 79.3 overs (Samant 53 Redkar 36 Hemal Shah 30, Blackwell 4/57) & 75 all out in 26.2 overs (Hemal Shah 21 Wilkin Mota 17, Blackwell 2/0 Harmison 2/3 Simon Jones 2/9 Panesar 2/15) by 238 runs