Ward drops anchor at Port of Spain

Surrey opener Ian Ward anchored England A's first innings following a rocky start in the Busta International Series match against Trinidad and Tobago at Port of Spain.

By stumps, put back after two rain interruptions, he had reached 44, moving cautiously towards a second half century in two innings following a 69 against West Indies B in Grenada last week.

England A were in reasonably calm waters thanks to his no-risk, utilitarian style of batting and his ability to keep the scoreboard moving with his tickling leg side work and, by the end, the visitors had mustered 83 runs for the loss of two wickets.

The departure of both John Crawley and Vikram Solanki inside the first 12 overs was a major disappointment for both batsmen who have claims to stake and points to prove on this tour and need an early success to help them on their way.

But Crawley became victim to a delivery from Darryl Brown that swung late and struck him on his pads. There had been little evidence of swing in this match until then and Crawley may have been surprised at such unusual movement but whatever the reasons for his dismissal, his duck from ten balls will have frustrated him.

England A were seven for one when he went replying to Trinidad's 249 all out but someone needed to drop anchor to make sure the Busta Cup points system, which awards bonus points to teams with first innings leads, would ultimately favour the visitors.

Solanki's free-scoring approach did not suit the situation and when the captain Richard Smith replaced his new ball bowlers with spin, the Worcestershire batsman became bogged down. Dinanath Ramnarine's seventh ball found him attempting to paddle the ball down to fine leg but he misjudged both line and length and was bowled around his legs for 11.

When the groundstaff donned their yellow waterproofs in preparation for the rain that was falling over the hills behind and coming south, England A were 38 for two but Ward's new partner Usman Afzaal was playing the spinners well and he continued his vigil after the shower had passed.

In the final session, the pair added 45 without incident though the pressure on the batsmen was intense as Ramnarine, Denis Rampersad and Rajindra Dhanraj used every trick in their spinners' manual to eke the batsmen out, including constant chatter and vociferous appeals.

But it was to no avail and when the umpires offered the batsmen the light ten overs before the scheduled close, they willingly accepted knowing the third day's play would offer no let-up in the battle against spin.

In all, 26 overs were lost to rain, the first shower falling in the ninth over after England had claimed their seventh wicket of the Trinidad innings. It could have been their eighth had Solanki not put down Darrell Brown in the slips earlier.

England's fielding was a talking point since it ranged from excellent, as demonstrated by Ward's direct throw at the stumps to dismiss Brown, to ragged, Solanki's misses coming on top of a few fumbles in the field.

According to England A coach Peter Moores, the fielding is one area that is being worked on.

"Solanki took five catches in Grenada which is a top effort so we are not worried about it. Like all areas of our game we are working hard to improve our fielding. We need to take catches and we want to be clinical but it will take time."

England's seamers accounted for the final four wickets before lunch with Chris Silverwood finishing as the pick of the bunch with 4-45 after a superb show of effort and accuracy.