KRISHNAGIRI (Wayanad):
Ben Duckett (80 off 118 balls; 15×4) carried on the good form he had harnessed towards the end of the one-day series to play a free-flowing innings which was chanceless till he was dismissed to set a strong base for
England Lions
on the first day of the four-day match against India 'A' at Krishnagiri Stadium on Thursday.
Duckett was complemented well by Sam Hain (61 off 167 balls; 6x4) and later in the day by
Steven Mullaney (39 batting) and Will Jacks (40 batting) as the Lions finished the day at a strong position of 303 for five.
The India 'A' pacers
Shardul Thakur,
Navdeep Saini and Avesh Khan were nippy but not consistent enough and gave away far too many boundary balls. Saini (2/57) claimed two wickets, including the all-important one of the Lions skipper
Sam Billings (9).
After the Ranji Trophy knockout matches here saw early finishes on two spicy pitches, there were apprehensions about how this wicket would behave. In fact, to counter the early morning moisture underneath the surface, the start was delayed by half an hour. However, the extra time the curators had to prepare a different turf with more red soil content seemed to have taken the sting out of it. That played into the hands of the Lions batsmen who were sent in by the India 'A' captain
Ankit Bawne
, probably going by the recent history of the venue.
Pretty soon, it was apparent that this was not a pitch where the balls would fly as Duckett and his opening partner Max Holden (26) ticked the scoreboard at a fair clip. Duckett was the aggressor, profiting from the wide outside the off-stump line bowled by the seamers. He cut and drove delightfully square of the wicket and did not let the pacers get into a rhythm. Holden, called 'Mini Chef' back home in England for the resemblance with Alastair Cook's batting, looked assured till he poked at one from Saini to be out caught-behind. The Lions went into lunch at 92 for one.
The post-lunch session saw Duckett becoming increasingly confident. The spinners Jalaj Saxena and Shahbaz Nadeem also couldn't lure him into any false shots. The 24-year-old Northamptonshire man looked all set to reach the three-figure mark when he slightly misjudged a Shardul Thakur ball that jagged back and played on.
Sam Hain, meanwhile, looked in no hurry at the other end despite losing Ollie Pope (8) to Avesh, he ensured that England went into the tea break at 190 for three.
After tea, India 'A' got two quick breakthroughs in the form of Billings and Hain. Billings was caught behind off Saini while Hain top-edged a sweep off Saxena, also to the wicketkeeper KS Bharat.
But India 'A' could not capitalize on that opening as they leaked runs towards the end of the day. Mullaney and Jacks added 65 runs for an unbeaten sixth wicket partnership in quick time and the second new ball did not prove to be effective for the seamers.
Duckett was disappointed that he could not go on and get a huge score. "Did all the hard work in the morning. It was a day for me to get a big hundred. Nice start to the series, anyway," he said.
"I think we have an upper hand. Don't think India would've happy with 300 for 5, so we are in a good position but the first hour tomorrow is going to be crucial. I think we'll be in a great position if we get 400-plus," added Duckett.
Brief scores: England Lions 303/5 (Ben Duckett 80, Sam Gain 61, Will Jacks 40, Steven Mullaney 39; Navdeep Saini 2/47) vs India 'A'.
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