da stake casino： England were made to sweat for victory by part-time leg-spinner GautamGambhir (6-1-12-3)
Santhosh S29-Nov-2001England were made to sweat for victory by part-time leg-spinner GautamGambhir (6-1-12-3). They, however, did go on to beat India ‘A’ by threewickets on the third and final day at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium inJaipur on Thursday. Chasing 173 for a win, England were helped along bytheir skipper Nasser Hussain (59) and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (40off 48 balls). They will thus go into the first Test match with apositive frame of mind, their first win on this tour under their belt.Earlier in the day,India ‘A’ resumed on their overnight score of 75/3and soon found themselves in deep trouble, losing wickets in a hurry tobe bowled out for just 109 in their second innings. Craig White(13-3-31-5) and Flintoff (17-7-27-3) shared the bowling honours forEngland, giving their selectors something to think about. England nowfinds that it cannot afford to drop either of the two all-rounders fromthe first Test team.It was Flintoff who struck first, with the seventh ball of the morning,as Yere Goud (13) was caught behind. Rashmi Ranjan Parida (13) was thenext to go, trying to pull a short delivery from White and top-edging toNasser Hussain. Ajay Ratra perished with the very next delivery for aduck, cleaned up by White. Abhijit Kale was caught by Mark Butcher offthe bowling of Flintoff for just three. Skipper Sunil Joshi (13) wascaught by Trescothick in the slips off Flintoff. Iqbal Siddiqui tried tocelebrate his inclusion in the national squad with some attempted heavyblows, but was caught behind off Richard Johnson for just one.India ‘A’ set their rivals a target of 173 runs for a win, and Englandgot off to a disastrous start, losing the important wicket of Butcher.Butcher played from the crease to Dodda Ganesh, the ball flew off theglove to Gautam Gambhir at forward short-leg, who took a sharp reflexcatch. New batsman Hussain was involved in a controversial decision. Hepulled a ball high to long-on, where Siddiqui completed a good catch.He, however, threw the ball back in to avoid it being declared a six, ashe was falling over the boundary line. TV replays suggested that thecatch was taken and that fielder had full control over the ball. Umpiresgave Hussain not out, much to the dismay of the fielders.Marcus Trescothick got into the act quickly, punishing the waywardbowling for half-a-dozen boundaries before being caught by Ratra off thebowling of Siddiqui. The left-handed batsman made 30 runs and must feela bit disappointed on losing out on some valuable batting practice. MarkRamprakash played a brisk knock of 22 before being bowled by a shortdelivery from Joshi that hardly bounced.Hussain, meanwhile, held the other end intact. With Michael Vaughanindisposed, Andrew Flintoff joined Hussain in the middle, and the runsstarted flowing. He was particularly severe on Joshi, smacking thebowler for a six and two fours. England went in to the tea break withjust 27 runs required and seven wickets in hand.Hussain threw his wicket away by giving the charge to Gambhir and wasbrilliantly stumped by young Ratra. The English captain made 59 runs off123 balls, striking six fours and a six in his patient knock. CraigWhite (3) gave a tame return catch to Gambhir. Flintoff got bogged downagainst the spinners, and Joshi got one ball to turn and bounce to takethe edge of his bat. There was some doubt regarding the catch beingtaken cleanly at first slip, but the umpire did not hesitate to awardthe benefit to the bowling side.Ashley Giles swung a ball from Gambhir to the mid-wicket fence for afour to take England close to victory. James Foster (0) then flashed atGambhir to give Joshi an easy catch at first slip. It took Giles, withan unbeaten 10, to take England past the target.