England Under-19 end first day on happy note

India Under-19 skipper Ajay Ratra won the toss in the first 'Test' against the England Under-19 and elected to bat at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday. They were bowled out for 257 in 78.5 overs.

In reply, England Under-19 openers Nikki Peng (18) and Gary Pratt (4) negotiated the medium pace duo of Nitin Agarwal and Siddarth Trivedi to end the day at 24 for no loss off 9 overs.

Little could Ratra have realised that his decision to bat would not be a happy outing for the hosts as they were bowled out in two and a half sessions. Alind Naidu top scored with 83 while skipper Ajay Ratra chipped in with 43. Kyle Hogg bagged three for 33. He was well complimented by Justin Bishop who took three for 24. Andrew McGarry and Monty Panesar picked up two wickets each.

The first session of the day belonged to the English bowlers as they restricted the hosts to 101 for four. Justin Bishop and Kyle Hogg took two wickets each in the session swinging the pendulum towards the tourists.

The tempo of the game swung both ways during the day. After the bowlers made their mark in the first session, the post lunch session saw a brave fightback from the Indian middle order batsmen. Ajay Ratra and Alind Naidu put on a face saving 106-run partnership off 183 balls for the sixth wicket. Ratra played second fiddle in the partnership as he was rotating the strike regularly. Naidu on the other hand was more aggressive in his approach cutting and pulling anthing bowled short at him. He was confident of his shots and playing them well, before a lapse in concentration caused him his wicket and a well deserved century.

Some late order resistance came in the form of a quickfire innings from Vidhyut Sivaramakrishnan (18 off nine balls). He hit two massive sixes and one four.

The hosts could not hold out the English side as they were dismissed on the first day. The tourists in reply batted sensibly, playing out the nine overs before stumps were drawn on the first day. Medium pacer Siddarth Trivedi rapped Gary Pratt on the pads with the first ball of the innings but the appeal was turned down by umpire SK Sharma. Nikki Peng was the more aggressive of the two openers and hit three balls to the fence. Peng was lucky to be at the crease as he was dropped in the slips off the bowling of Nitin Agarwal.