Yuvraj claims maiden fifer in drawn encounter

Mumbai: Comeback man Yuvraj Singh excelled with his maiden five-wicket haul in first class cricket as England`s warm-up game against India `A` ended in a tame draw at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.

Live images

The 30-year-old Yuvraj grabbed five for 94, improving upon his previous best of three for 25, as India A dismissed the visitors for 426 in their first innings but not before conceding a 57-run lead.

Yuvraj, who had scalped Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell yesterday, added the wickets of Samit Patel (104), Matt Prior (51) and James Anderson (19) in the morning session today after England resumed at 286 for four.

India A scored 124 for four in 40 overs before the play was called off ahead of the scheduled close by mutual consent on the third and final day of the game.Openers Abhinav Mukund (3) and Murali Vijay (32), Yuvraj (14) and Ajinkya Rahane (54) were the batsmen out in the home side`s second innings.The openers were claimed by Anderson while Tim Bresnan sent back Yuvraj, who has come back to top level cricket after undergoing treatment for cancer that put him out of the game for close to a year.

Rahane hit six shots to the fence before Samit Patel had him caught at slip. Captain Suresh Raina (19) and Manoj Tiwary (2) were the unbeaten batsmen at close.

Raina was lucky to be dropped on nought by Anderson at second slip off Bresnan and his stay at the crease later too was unconvincing against Bresnan`s pace.

England now take on Mumbai A in their second warm-up game at Navi Mumbai`s D Y Patil Stadium from November 3-5 before proceeding to Ahmedabad for the third game, a four-day tie, against Haryana from November 8-11.

The opening Test of the four-match series versus India is set to commence at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad from November 15-19.

England were dismissed half-an-hour after lunch with Yuvraj, who has taken just nine wickets in 37 Test matches, finishing with his first five-wicket haul in first class.

His previous best was three for 25 in a Ranji Trophy game against Jammu and Kashmir in the 2001-02 season.

Captain and lanky left-handed opener Alastair Cook and stocky middle-order batsman Samit Patel notched centuries while Jonathan Trott and Matt prior hit half tons for England.

Resuming at the overnight 286 for 4, Cook and his overnight fifth wicket partner Patel were then kept in check by the home side pacers.Cook departed when Dinda angled a ball away to which he poked his bat at and edged to keeper Wridhiman Saha. His partnership with Patel yielded 169 runs and came off 321 balls, pulling the side from 133 for 4 to beyond 300.

The England skipper must have been satisfied with the long vigil he had, battling at the crease for six hours and 19 but he added just seven runs in 18 balls today.

The arrival of Prior quickened the pace of scoring as the Sussex player looked for runs from the beginning even as his partner Patel preferred to inch his way to the three-figure mark from 82 overnight.

Prior was also lucky to be dropped by Rahane when on 4 as he slashed Dinda to the gully fielder. Patel reached his first 100 on the tour with a single to square leg in the 11th over, having taken almost 50 minutes to add the 18 runs needed to attain the landmark.

Dinda was unlucky not to have added the wicket of Prior to those of openers Nick Compton and Cook in his bag.

Prior raced to his 50 in as many balls and with the help of nine hits to the fence before his forward prod resulted in an edge to slip fielder Raina off Yuvraj. The left-arm spinner struck again off the last ball in the over by dismissing Patel for his fourth wicket of the innings.

Patel was caught by Vijay at covers off a leading edge when trying to flick the left arm slow bowler. He had stayed for more than four and a half hours and struck 14 boundaries in 173 balls. The partnership between Patel and Prior was worth 65 runs in 12.1 overs.

Swann was bowled when a ball from Vinay Kumar kept a bit low as England reached 396 for 8 at lunch.

In the seventh over after the break, and after the addition of 30 runs, Yuvraj completed his five wicket haul by having Anderson caught at short leg for 19.

Tim Bresnan remained unbeaten with 33 off 61 balls with four fours and a six. The innings ended with last man, the injured Steven Finn unable to bat.

By tea, India A wiped off the deficit by reaching 68 for the loss of one wicket in 20 overs. Abhinav Mukund, who made 73 in the first innings, fell for three in the second over off James Anderson with 4 on the board.

At the end of the second session, Vijay (32 in 58 balls) and Ajinkya Rahane (33 in 49 balls) were the not out batsmen.

Vijay departed soon after resumption by slashing Anderson to slip fielder Swann after batting for 87 minutes and striking 4 fours and a six. He also added 65 runs for the second wicket with Rahane in 76 minutes.