January 7, 2013

England lose one-day warm-up

England lost their first one-day warm-up match against India A at the Palam Services Ground in Delhi on Sunday.

Ian Bell made 91 but England went down to a 54-run defeat. He was the ninth man out as the tourists came up well short of their revised target of 229 after India A had made 224-4 in a fog-hit innings.

The middle order collapsed to 72-6 with only Bell and Tim Bresnan (22) offering any resistance, England - without Alastair Cook due to a cold - eventually being bowled out for 175.

Kevin Pietersen, back for the first time since reversing his one-day retirement, made a lively 19, including three fours off a single Sreesanth over before he miscued to mid-on.

Samit Patel was promoted in Cook's absence but he made just four before Ishwar Pandey had him pinned lbw.

That left England 42-2 before stand-in skipper Eoin Morgan (four) and Jos Buttler (six) both fell to Jalaj Saxena's off-spin, Craig Kieswetter was undone for a duck by a fine Mohit Sharma delivery and Ashok Meneria had Chris Woakes lbw for three.

Bell, after surviving two chances, was attempting to keep his head at the other end and Bresnan offered some respite with 22, including a big six.

Meneria ended his fun though and James Tredwell was close behind, run out for a duck.

Bell opened his shoulders as the end came closer, striking several clean hits and picking up a pair of sixes before he went for one shot too many and top-edged Sharma to the wicketkeeper.

Steven Finn was last man out as the hosts wrapped up victory, much to the delight of a small but voluble crowd.

India A had earlier batted with few problems despite the grimly cold conditions that delayed the start by half an hour and again for 80 minutes after five overs.

Each of their top three made half-centuries, Murali Vijay top-scoring with an entertaining 76.

Jade Dernbach turned in 2-23 to emerge as the pick of the attack, while James Tredwell's off-spin was tidy.

The tourists have a second warm-up match on Tuesday before the five-game one-day series starts on Friday.

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