England youngsters start tour on a winning note

By Our Sports Reporter

PUNE, JAN. 2. The England under-19 team's first day of competitive cricket turned out to be a fruitful one, as it defeated a West Zone under-19 side of under-achievers by 58 runs in a limited-overs match at the Nehru Stadium here. The one-dayer was played to partly make up for the three-day tie which saw the first two days being rained off.

After setting the West Zone youngsters a non-too- difficult target of 224 in 50 overs, the tourists capitalised on the lack of application in the home side to score an easy victory at the very start of their India tour, the next engagement being a three-day match against the Rest of India under-19 at Mumbai.

Spinners Robert Ferley (3-31) and Monty Panesar (2-42) picked up wickets by just keeping the ball in play, as the West Zone batsmen, softened up by the new-ball duo of Andrew McGarry and Nadeem Malik, paid dearly for their adventurous intent, getting bowled out for 165 in 39.3 overs.

West ended up losing a match it had the capability to win, considering the manner in which each one of its specialist batsmen shaped up against a regulation England bowling attack, whose all-round fielding abilities acted as the force multiplier.

Skipper Parthiv Patel overcame initial hesitancy to compile 25 effortless runs (54 balls) before getting beaten by a Ferley delivery which stopped; Vinit Indulkar hammered 22 off 22 balls before being induced to pull a short ball down deep fine legs throat and Kashinath Khadkikar (39 off 37 balls) departed after having showed the flair and ability to collar the bowling.

England's gains from this match was Andrew McGarry's nippy bowling on a batsman-friendly track, opening batsmen John Sadler and Gary Pratt's 76-run first wicket partnership during which they handled medium-pace and tackled spin with ease and all-round fielding, with two catches by wicket-keeper Mark Wallace being outstanding.

The West Zone squad proved to be a side of talented individuals who lacked in team effort, the players blessed with natural ability being skipper and wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel (three catches and 25 runs as opener), left-arm spinner Kiran Adhav (2- 47) and all-rounder Kashinath Khadkikar (one wicket, one run out and a quick fire 39).

New-ball bowlers Siddharth Trivedi and Uday Karkera were treated with respect by the England openers before a couple of dropped catches in the slip cordon let slip the initiative. However, both came back to reap two wickets apiece in their second spell.

Similarly, Adhav's guile and accuracy demands a sterner test.

The scores:

England under-19: John Sadler run out 33, Gary Pratt c Parthiv P. b K. Khadkikar 52, Ian Bell c B. Thakkar b K. Adhav 40, Kadeer Ali c Thakkar b S. Trivedi 19, Mark Wallace c Parthiv b U. Karkera 15, Ian Pattison c & b K. Adhav 1, Robert Ferley c Parthiv b S. Trivedi 9, Kyle Hogg c S. Trivedi b U. Karkera 19, Monty Panesar b U. Karkera 0, Andrew McGarry run out 7, Nadeem Malik not out 1. Extras (b-2, lb-6, nb-11) 19. Total 223 all out (50 overs).

Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-130, 3-160, 4-166, 5-167, 6- 184, 7-203, 8-203, 9-215.

West Zone under-19 bowling: Siddharth Trivedi 12-0-54-2, Uday Karkera 8-0-43-3, Jaydev Shah 5-2-17-0, Hitshu Bachani 2-0-15-0, Kashinath Khadkikar 11-0-39-1, Kiran Adhav 12-0-47-2.

West Zone under-19: Vimal Joshi b A. McGarry 0, Parthiv Patel c & b R. Ferley 25, Vinit Indulkar c M. Panesar b N. Malik 22, Kashinath Khadkikar c M. Wallace b M. Panesar 63, Bhavin Thakkar b R. Ferley 2, Rohan Dharwat c K. Hogg b R. Ferley 0, Jaydev Shah c M. Wallace b McGarry 27, Siddharth Trivedi run out 6, Uday Karkera lbw N. Malik 14, Kiran Adhav 12 (not out), Hishu Bachani lbw M. Panesar 0. Extras (lb-6, nb-12) 18. Total 165 all out (39.3 overs).

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-27, 3-88, 4-100, 5-100, 6-106, 7-115, 8- 138, 9-165.

England under-19 bowling: A. McGarry 7-1-40-2, N. Malik 9-1-29-2, K. Hogg 4-1-17-0, M. Panesar 10.3-1- 42-2, R. Ferley 8-1-31-3, I. Pattison 1-1-0-0.

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