England Under-19s in a commanding position

Santhosh S

January 21, 2001

Chris Tremlett and Andrew McGarry took the honours on Day two in the second 'Test' between India U19s and England U19s, played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.

The tall English lad Tremlett played one of the best innings of his young career with a commanding effort that earned him 61 runs. It was a treat to watch the young lad play with such ease against the young Indian spinners. He smashed six boundaries and two towering sixes, the second one to reach his fifty. He scored the bulk of the 45 precious runs added for the last wicket with Monty Panesar, whose contribution was just two runs.

Chris saw two of his partners get run out just before lunch and kept his concentration to score the valuable runs. Later in the day, Tremlett bowled well and picked up the wicket of the dangerous Gautam Gambhir. There was a happy face in the stadium, that of the English manager, Tim Tremlett. He was delighted with his son's remarkable performance. Just before embarking on this Indian tour, Chris lost his younger brother in a tragic car accident. The Tremlett family will be proud of their son tonight.

Resuming on 286/3, the English colts lost overnight batsman GJ Pratt for 30, edging a sharp rising ball to the keeper off the bowling of Aggarwal. Ian Pattison was lucky to be dropped by Mane in the slips, but did not last for long, bowled by SK Trivedi for 7. The ball kept a shade lower than what Pattison had expected it to bounce.

In the meanwhile, Gordon Muchall played some crisp shots and tried to steady the innings. Mark Wallace did not do himself justice by driving off the backfoot to a delivery from Dharmichand; the ball took the bottom edge and Ratra took the catch behind the stumps.

Chris Tremlett came in at 312/6 and helped Muchall put on 42 for the seventh wicket. Muchall played the shot of the morning session, dancing down the track to the off spinner Dharmichand, lofting him straight for a huge six. Muchall was unlucky to be dismissed on 49, a direct hit from the substitute fielder Mishra. His innings was decorated with five boundaries and a six.

JE Bishop made the cardinal sin of not grounding his bat as he was run out for a duck by YG Rao to leave England at 354/8. At the same score McGarry was trapped LBW by Aggarwal for a duck. England had undone all the good work they did on the first day.

Tremlett and Panesar got together at 354/9 and put on their brilliant partnership to take England to 399 all out in 144.2 overs. Tremlett was caught in the covers while trying to clear the infield, going for quick runs. Nitin Aggarwal bowled well to pick 19-6-46-2.

Requiring 250 runs to avoid following on, India colts got off to a flying start. Vinayak Mane and Gambhir were in great touch, smashing the ball for boundaries. Mane struck three fours in his innings of 12 before being bowled by McGarry, as the batsman shouldered arms to a ball that was coming in a little and removed the off stump.

Gambhir played some astounding pull shots off the bowling of McGarry and Bishop in scoring 23 runs. Tremlett was brought in from the far end. In the fifth ball of the over, Gambhir went for a square drive, played it in the air and John Sadler took a good catch at point.

The first ball after the tea break saw Gary Pratt drop Rao at midwicket. The bowler to suffer was Panesar. Rao had added five more runs and moved to 18 when Ian Bell floored an easy chance off the bowling of Panesar. The English fielding effort was not anywhere near the standards that they strive for.

McGarry who had accounted for the dangerous looking Gambhir just before tea, dealt two telling blows in the 32nd over reducing the hosts to 103/4. He trapped YG Rao LBW with the fifth ball of the over and had Alind Naidu caught behind with the following delivery. Rao made 30 runs off 60 balls, which included six strokes past the boundary ropes.

Panesar's dreadful run of luck continued as Pratt again floored an easy chance at midwicket. The batsman to benefit this time was Ganda on 42. Ganda as a matter of fact toyed with the young Panesar's bowling, belting him for boundaries to the midwicket and cover fence.

Ian Bell impressed with his astute captaincy, using his fast bowlers in short spells. At close of play India U19s had moved on to 122/4 in 39 overs. Ganda and KR Khadkikar are the unbeaten batsmen with 45 (5 fours) and 9 respectively. McGarry's excellent show with the ball fetched him the figures of 9-1-29-3.

© Cricinfo

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Matches

England Under-19s v India Under-19s

Series/Tournaments

England Under-19s in India Youth ODI Series

England Under-19s in India Youth Test Series

England Under-19s tour of India

Teams

India

Grounds

MA Chidambaram Stadium