— PHOTO: AP

SCINTILLATING CENTURY: Mohd. Kaif's unbeaten 119 helped RCA XI post a competitive score.

Jaipur: Mohammad Kaif slammed an unbeaten 119 as Rajasthan President's XI pulled off a five-run victory against England in the practice match here on Saturday to seize back some of the initiative for the host ahead of the one-dayers.

Put in to bat, the local team made a competitive 260 for six in 50 overs before bowling out the visitor for 255 in 49.5 overs for a thrilling finish at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Kaif starred in President's XI innings, hitting 10 fours in his 136-ball knock before spinners Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar entrapped Vikram Solanki's men in a spin web.

Ian Bell made a fine 71 and wicketkeeper Matt Prior stroked 51, but the tendency of the English side, playing without its key players, to lose wickets at regular intervals meant it was left with a stiff run chase at the death.

Towards the end, Kabir Ali injected excitement into the match. Needing 24 off 11 balls, he lofted Chawla over long-on for a six. Needing 12 from the last three balls with one wicket in hand, Kabir hit another six off Venugopala Rao's fourth delivery in the final over which saw England needing six runs in the last two balls.

Off the penultimate ball, Kabir drove to cover and James Anderson set off for a run and an agile Kaif caught him short to help RCA clinch the thriller.

The slow bowlers did the trick for India while Suresh Raina's all-round contribution also played a crucial role in shaping RCA win.

Raina, who made 49 off only 46 balls, excelled with the ball as well, dismissing top-scorer Bell and also effecting two run outs — that of the aggressive Kevin Pietersen (28) and Paul Collingwood (34).

Credit should go to skipper Ajay Jadeja for marshalling his bowling resources well in the match which is the only practice game ahead of the seven-match one-day series beginning in Delhi on March 28.

Chasing 261 for a win, England lost two early wickets including that of captain Solanki for a duck to paceman V.R.V. Singh in the third over. R.P. Singh then got rid of Owais Shah for two. Prior and Pietersen steadied the innings with the latter increasing the tempo by hitting three consecutive fours off R.P. Singh to fetch 13 runs from his over.

Prior also hit four boundaries to extract 17 runs from another R.P. Singh over, who ended up conceding 42 runs in his seven overs. The duo put on 45 runs before Prior was castled by Powar.

Reduced to 163 for five in the 34th over, Bell resurrected the innings with a 56-run partnership with Ian Blackwell and put his side on course to victory, but a crucial run out — that of Blackwell by Jadeja — marked the turnaround for the host.

Jadeja goes on air

It may be unusual for a captain to share his views with the television audience while in the middle of the action on the field, but that is what exactly Jadeja did on Saturday.

Jadeja was hooked up with the commentary panel even as he went about his duties — making bowling changes and field adjustments — during the visitor's run chase.

A wired up Jadeja talked about introducing spinners with commentator L. Shivaramakrishnan during the game.

The incident reminded one of former South African captain Hansie Cronje whose on-field interactions on a wireless radio with coach Bob Woolmer during the 1999 World Cup generated much controversy.

The scores: RCA President's XI: G. Gambhir c Prior b Anderson 5, J. Shah c Batty b Mahmood 10, S. Raina c Shah b Collingwood 49, M. Kaif (not out) 119, Y. Venugopala Rao b Collingwood 14, A. Jadeja c Pietersen b Blackwell 18, P. Patel c Bell b Ali 25, R. Powar (not out) 5, Extras (lb-8, w-5, nb-2) 15, Total (for six wkts. in 50 overs) 260.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-28, 3-100, 4-120, 5-166, 6-227.

England bowling: Anderson 9-0-57-1, Mahmood 3-0-13-1, Ali 7-1-45-1, Plunkett 6-1-33-0, Collingwood 7-0-28-2, Blackwell 10-0-33-1, Batty 6-0-30-0, Bell 2-0-13-0.

England: V. Solanki c Raina b V.R.V. Singh 0, M. Prior c R.P. Singh b Powar 55, O. Shah c Patel b R.P. Singh 2, K. Pietersen (run out) 28, I. Bell c Kaif b Raina 71, P. Collingwood (run out) 34, I. Blackwell (run out) 23, Kabir Ali (not out) 25, L. Plunkett c R.P. Singh b Venugopala Rao 1, G. Batty c R.P. Singh b Piyush Chawla 2, J. Anderson (run out) 4, Extras (lb-1, w-5, nb-4) 10, Total (all out in 49.5 overs) 255.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-19, 3-88, 4-97, 5-163, 6-215, 7-229, 8-230, 9-244.

RCA XI bowling: V.R.V. Singh 5-0-33-1, R.P. Singh 7-0-48-1, Gill 6-0-30-0, Powar 10-0-35-1, Chawla 10-2-49-1, Venugopala Rao 5.5-0-31-1, Raina 6-0-28-1. — Agencies

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