Related Link : India’s tour of England
Indians were given a stern test by England Lions in the warm-up One Dayer at Northampton. But unfortunately rain had the last laugh on an overcast day that saw the second string English side put on a formidable 296 on board. The Indians were upto the challenge at 32 for no loss in 6.5 overs before rain took over the County Ground.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the side in this game with the Indians resting Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik and RP Singh. Dhoni won the toss and put the Lions to bat first. Agarkar nailed the first wicket that of Maddy caught playing his flick too early on a wicket that was flat but on the slower side. That early wicket didn’t mean that the Indian bowlers were going to get into their stride because of a counter attack from the 22-year-old Leicester batsman Luke Wright who joined his skipper Vikram Solanki. Wright played some stunning shots to keep the Lions’ innings rolling. His Skipper Solanki had got a blow on the visor from a Zaheer Khan bouncer that later forced him to have stitches done on his cheek. Both Wright and Solanki made half centuries. Wright was dismissed for a 40-ball 56 with 8 fours and a six before getting brilliantly caught down the legside by Dhoni off a sharp offbreak from Powar.
Ian Bell looking for some practice before the seven ODIs took on Ramesh Powar with a few lofted shots only to fall in the deep playing a shot too many. Bell perished for a 17-ball 21 with his wicket paving way for another couple of quick wickets to fall to have Lions looking ugly at 149 for 5. Owais Shah got lbw to Powar who was bowling from round the sticks and Solanki well set at 60 (from 65 balls with 6 fours) got foxed by a superb googly from Piyush Chawla. Indians couldn’t bowl out the homeside after both their spinners had finished their quota of overs. Munaf Patel put on an uninspired spell of bowling that lacked pace. Ravi Bopara and Veteran Wicket Keeper Paul Nixon could put on the rescue act to take their side to 222 for 6. Nixon (39 from 50) was wrongly given stumped out by the square leg umpire when he had missed connecting the ball in his reverse sweep off Yuvraj. Bopara (37 from 51) followed him back to the pavilion after getting a leading edge off Munaf. England Lions managed to pile up 296 for 8 towards the end with Chris Schofield, the left hander making a 30-ball 35 and Tim Bresnan unbeaten on 32 from 26.
Zaheer Khan had an off day with none for 57 from 7 overs. His partner Ajit Agarkar was impressive, getting the ball to reverse swing at full lengths during the slogs to get 2 for 41 from 8. Munaf Patel with 1 for 60 in 9 overs looked pedestrian. He just couldn’t throw the ball from the deep which might keep him on the bench. Ramesh Powar was the best bowler with 3 for 52 in his 10 and Chawla looked good as well with 1 for 52 in 10.
Uthappa and Ganguly started the Indian chase and did so in a positive fashion. Uthappa struck the first blow with a hook shot for a six off Kirtley and then Ganguly took over by stepping down the track to Jon Lewis to drive him straight down the ground. Before the rain washed the game away, Uthappa got to a run-a-ball 12 and Ganguly made 18 from 29 with 3 fours.