Pratt thrives on Indians' butter fingers

By Abhijit Sen Gupta

HYDERABAD, JAN. 27. Gary Pratt capitalised on dropped catches and shoddy fielding to post an unbeaten 114 as England reached 256 for four on the opening day of the third Under-19 Test match against India at the Lal Bahadur Stadium here today.

Half a dozen dropped chances coupled with mediocre ground fielding allowed the visitors' innings to flourish. The Indian bowlers tried all their variations but the track was not too responsive. Nevertheless their rate of success could have been better had the catches been taken.

England openers John Sadler and Nicky Peng showed the right approach and seemed determined to stay put for a long time. Choosing the right deliveries to hit, they appeared to be building the foundation for a big total. But that was when Amit Mishra got the breakthrough by having Sadler caught brilliantly by Ajay Ratra.

The ball initially went to Vinayak Mane at short leg but as it rebounded out of his palms, Ratra dived to grab it before it touched the ground.

Five overs later Mishra struck again. This time it was the in- form Nicky Peng who was well caught at slip by Ishan Ganda as the batsman went for a cut. At this stage, everything seemed to be going right for the home team.

The bowlers were in a confident mood and with two good catches taken, there was every likelihood that England could be restricted to a moderate score. The home team's tactic of changing the bowlers frequently also paid dividends.

Century stand

But thereafter the situation changed. Skipper Ian Bell, who has been in good touch and Gary Pratt came together in a third-wicket partnership which gradually assumed dominance over the Indian attack.

The two of them batted sensibly and waited for the loose deliveries to get their runs. Pratt in particular was in a confident mood and he did not let a dropped chance at 23 upset his concentration. At lunch the total was 109 for two.

After lunch the stand was broken when Bell was trapped leg before by Dharmichand as he tried to force the ball away. His 46 contained four hits to the boundary and came off 132 balls faced in a stay of 137 minutes.

Clearly he seemed to have been aiming for a really big score and his disappointment was evident as he trudged back to the pavilion. Bell and Pratt put on 102 for the third wicket in 31.3 overs.

After Bell was dismissed, Pratt was joined in the middle by Gordon Muchall. Again a big stand seemed to be building up. Try as they might, the Indian attack could not put any pressure on the pair. To top it all, Pratt got another life at 89 as Mishra dropped him at mid off after the batsman went for a lofted shot against Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan.

With the total reading 211 for three at tea, England looked certain to cross the 300-mark by close. But in the last session, the two medium pacers Maninder Singh and Nitin Agarwal bowled intelligently and used clever variations to check the flow of runs. In fact, they even had the batsmen playing and missing outside the off stump on several occasions, and at this stage, for the first time the pair looked vulnerable.

Pratt however reached the three figure mark and remained unbeaten at draw of stumps. He has so far hit 13 fours and two sixes.

But the efforts of the seamers did not go to waste, for, one more wicket fell in the last session. Muchall looked hesitant against Agarwal and on one occasion edged the ball between the lone slip Ishan Ganda and the wicketkeeper to the boundary. Two balls later, Agarwal found the edge again and this time Muchall was not so lucky as the ball went straight into Ganda's hands.

Earlier, India decided to bring in debutants Mishra and Maninder, replacing Khadkikar and Trivedi.

The scores:

England Under-19 - 1st innings: John Sadler c Ratra b Mishra 22, Nicky Peng c Ganda b Mishra 24, Ian Bell lbw b Dharmichand 46, Gary Pratt (batting) 114, Gary Muchall c Ganda b Agarwal 36, Justin Bishop (batting) 1, Extras (lb-4, nb-9) 13, Total (for four wkts. in 94 overs) 256.

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-66, 3-168, 4- 249.

India Under-19 bowling: Maninder 11-4-20-0, Agarwal 10-3-35-1, Vidyut 30-8-80-0, Mishra 23-4-75-2, Dharmichand 18-8-36-1. Ganda 2-1-6-0.

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