Buttler and Stokes star in EPP chase

EPP 235 for 7 (Chopra 70, Taylor 51) and 231 for 5 (Buttler 70, Stokes 66) beat DY Patil Sports Academy 277 (Indulkar 94) and 185 for 6 dec (Naik 70) by five wickets
Scorecard

England's Performance Programme squad won their tour match against Dr DY Patil Sport Academy, racing past a target of 228 in just 30.1 overs. Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes provided the power, hitting 13 sixes between them, after two declarations on day three set up the chance of a result.

The EPP halted their first innings on their overnight score of 235 for 7, still trailing by 42 runs, before Stokes, Toby Roland-Jones and Stuart Meaker helped reduce the Academy to 47 for 4 and then 85 for 5. Prashant Naik and Pankaj Jaiswal put on 100 for the sixth wicket, the declaration coming when Naik fell to Varun Chopra's occasional offspin for 70.

After Chopra and James Taylor opened the first innings, Craig Kieswetter and Gary Ballance strode out second time around. They fell in pursuit of quick runs but Stokes and Buttler cracked on, adding 91 in eight overs.

Taylor then joined Buttler in another 50 partnership and although Vishal Dabholkar returned to claim his second and third wickets, the EPP overhauled their target with almost four overs to spare. The win was their second on tour, after an innings victory against the same opponents last week.