England Under-19 taste victory in first game

England Under-19 defeated West Zone Under-19 by 58 runs in a practice one-dayer at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Pune on Tuesday. England Under-19 scored 223 all out in 50 overs in reply to which West Zone Under-19 were bowled out for 165 runs in 39.3 overs.

After the first two days of the scheduled three day warm-up game were washed out by rain, both teams decided to play a 50 overs a side game on the last and final day.

The Jawaharlal Nehru stadium ground was still wet in patches but overall the conditions were fruitful for play. Skippers Parthiv Patel and Ian Bell met for the toss, the former winning it and inviting the tourists to bat first.

The tourists were cautious in their appoach early in the innings, both openers John Sadler and Gary Pratt batted defensively. They struggled early on but still managed to put on a 76 run partnership for the first wicket in 17.1 overs. Gary Pratt scored the first fifty of the tour, his 59 coming off 102 balls with ten hits to the fence. Pratt was the highest scorer of the innings. The other contributor was Ian Bell who scored a decent 40 off 68 with one six and three hits to the fence. John Sadler was run out by Vinit Indulkar for 33 off 55 balls with one six and four hits to the fence.

The West Zone medium pacers Uday Karkera and Siddarth Trivedi were guilty of bowling too many extras. The bowlers overstepped eleven times between them. Karkera bagged three for 43 and Trivedi picked up two for 54.

In reply, West Zone had a disastrous start when Andrew McGarry sent Vimal Joshi's middle stump on a cartwheel ride with the first ball of the innings. One drop Vinit Indulkar played a brisk knock scoring 22 off 22 balls with one six and three boundaries. Kashinath Khadkikar was the topscorer with 39 off 37 balls hitting seven boundaries. Skipper Parthiv Patel hung around for his 25 off 54 balls with five hits to the fence. Jaideo Shah chipped in with 27 off 44 balls including one six and two hits to the fence.

The West Zone batsmen failed to convert the good starts into a big score as the innings folded up in the 40th over. Spinner Robert Ferley bagged three for 31 while Monty Panesar, Andrew McGarry and Nadeem Malik chipped in with two wickets each.

The England Under-19 team is off to Mumbai where they face the Rest of India Under-19 in a practice game from January 4-6.