Carberry and Onions secure England A honours

BCB Academy XI 326 (Chowdhury 74, Pavel 70, Faruque 58, Broad 3-99) and 56 for 5 (Onions 3-30) drew with England A 327 for 4 dec (Compton 152*, Prior 82*) and 226 for 3 dec (Carberry 100*)
Scorecard

England A came close to an improbable victory on the third and final day of a hard-fought contest against a BCB Academy XI at Mirpur, with the Durham seamer, Graham Onions, capitalising on Michael Carberry's unbeaten century to grab three top-order wickets in seven overs.

England had started the day with the slenderest of one-run advantages after bowling the Academy out for 326 on the previous evening, but Carberry and Michael Yardy demonstrated the friendly nature of the batting conditions to add 71 for the first wicket. Yardy was eventually dismissed by Mosharraf Hossain for 21, but Steve Davies picked up where he had left off to add a further 122 for the second wicket.

Carberry reached an excellent century from 187 balls but retired hurt immediately afterwards, leaving just enough time for Adil Rashid to become Hossain's second victim of the innings before Yardy declared on 226 for 3. That gave England's seamers 20 overs to make an impression, and they took their opportunity instantly, with Onions dismissing the first three batsmen inside the first eight overs.

Stuart Broad, England's first-innings bowling star, then removed Nasiruddin Faruque for 10 before Tom Smith grabbed the captain, Nadif Chowdhury, caught behind for 4. Marshall Ayub was on hand to prevent a complete meltdown with an unbeaten 23, but the performance will have given England's tourists heart at the start of a tough tour.