*All times CAT (GMT+2)

Cricket | International

England's bowlers struggle in India



England's back-up bowlers were made to sweat by Haryana's unheralded batsmen on the second day of the four-day match in Ahmedabad on Friday.

The tourists, who revelled on the slow pitch to pile up 521 in their first innings, also found wickets hard to come as the state side cruised to 172-4 by stumps.

Opener Rahul Dewan was unbeaten on 77 and Sunny Singh made 55, the pair making light of England's attack with a 97-run partnership for the second wicket.

Tim Bresnan claimed 2-47, but pacemen Stuart Meaker and Graham Onions went wicketless on a day when play was held up briefly as a monkey ran across the outfield.

England were without four frontline bowlers, including the rested James Anderson, for the final warm-up game before the first test that opens in the same city on November 15.

Pace bowlers Stuart Broad and Steven Finn are recovering from injuries, while off-spinner Graeme Swann has flown home to attend to his sick daughter.

The tourists added 113 in the morning session after resuming at 408-3 before they were all out at the stroke of lunch.

All-rounder Samit Patel made 67, continuing his good form on the tour which had fetched him 104 and 60 in the previous two warm-up matches.

Ian Bell scored 62 and Matt Prior smashed 41 off 36 balls before England lost their last five wickets for 14 runs attempting to push the scoring.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, the lone international in Haryana's team, and off-break bowler Jayant Yadav picked up four wickets each.

BRIEF SCORES:

ENGLAND 1st innings: 521 (Alastair Cook 97, Nick Compton 74, Kevin Pietersen 110 retired out, Ian Bell 62, Samit Patel 67, Matt Prior 41, Amit Mishra 4-67, Jayant Yadav 4-110)

HARYANA 1st innings: 172-4 (Rahul Dewan 77 not out, Sunny Singh 55, Tim Bresnan 2-47, Monty Panesar 1-32, Samit Patel 1-15)

Shop

438 - The Greatest One-Day Game
The DVD box holds three (3) DVDs
R138.95
The Proteas
20 Years, 20 Landmark Matches by Neil Manthorp
R180.00
Why Are You So Fat?
The hilarious book of all the best on-pitch repartee and banter -- the fine art of sledging
R138.00
The Art of Losing
How is it possible that the Proteas have never won a single knockout match at a World Cup?
R165.00


Comments

More expert analysis and opinion from Sport24
The opinions expressed by Sport24 experts and bloggers are theirs alone, and do not necessarily represent those of SuperSport

Sports Talk



Faf du Plessis
Time for the playoffs
As I write this, we’re just a few hours out from our playoff game against the Mumbai Indians.

Haze's Comment
Cricket is missing a critical component
It is habitually demanding keeping up with the goings-on surrounding cricket. It seems that,...

Mpumelelo Mbangwa
Who will win the IPL this time?
Well, to say that IPL 2013 has been marred by controversy is a little bit of an understatement.

Neil Manthorp
Can anyone fix this?
Three Indian cricketers from the IPL Franchise, the Rajasthan Royals, have been arrested by Delhi...

Kepler Wessels
SA face tough task in 'group of death'
While the IPL is winding down it is time to start looking ahead at the upcoming Champions Trophy.

Arjun Vidyarthi
Tikolo is back
Cricket Kenya pulled off a magical piece of business last week when they appointed legendary...