Board XI gain advantage

Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir gave India’s Board XI the advantage today with an opening partnership of 93, after England had been bowled out for just 238 in the IPCL stadium in Vadodara. Munaf Patel was the main cause of England’s batting collapse, as he grabbed five wickets for just 59 runs, but losing Kevin Pietersen to cramp was also a real blow to the visitors.

The Indian batsmen got off to a flying start in their reply. They frequently cut and drove Stephen Harmison and Matthew Hoggard early on, and were lucky enough to survive the few edges that the English bowlers created. Jaffer and Gambhir brought up their fifty-partnership after just 68 balls.

The partnership was finally broken when Ian Blackwell, one of the only batsmen to score well in the first innings, managed to trap Jaffer LBW for 48. Jaffer had managed to score 28 of his runs through seven fours, underlining his and Gambhir’s explosive start.

Vikram Sing, Munaf and Paul used the green wicket to their advantage early on in England’s first innings, rewarding their captain’s choice to bowl first.

Early on, Vikram bowled with an impeccable line and length, and forced a dodgy third run from Marcus Trescothick, causing his downfall on just 18. Paul also bowled with good consistency, line and length, and was rewarded with the wicket of Ian Bell when the batsman edged to second slip. Andrew Strauss then, after an unconvincing 51 minutes at the crease, chopped Munaf back onto his own stumps, leaving England in deep trouble at 64 for three.

England needed someone to dig in and force a partnership, but Flintoff just drove tamely to mid-off for just a single run, handing Munaf his second wicket of the day.

Jones and Blackwell started to get into their stride between Lunch and Tea, with Kevin Pietersen, who eventually retired with cramp, scoring a blistering 47 off of just 10 more balls.

However, Ramesh Powar managed to take advantage of the fact that England were targeting him by snapping up Ian Blackwell who’d scored 33 and looked set to go onto his fifty. Powar gave the ball some air, and invited Blackwell’s drive which induced a thin edge.

England found themselves in deeper trouble when, just after tea, Munaf Patel brought the Indian audience to their feet by dismissing Geraint Jones, on 46, and Matthew Hoggard in consecutive deliveries. This came after England had recovered from an early stutter with some more productive partnerships.

Jones couldn’t do much about his undoing- he was comprehensively bowled by a full ball that moved in a tad. His dismissal brought Matthew Hoggard to the crease, but he might as well not have bothered as, having pushed forward to an identical delivery, his stumps, too, were flattened. The damage had been done.

With the Board XI’s early surge, the game looks well set for a thrilling day’s play tomorrow.

England 238
K Pietersen 47, G Jones 46
M Patel 5/59, S Paul 2/26

Indian Board President’s XI 93/1
W Jaffer 48, G Gambhir 33*
I Blackwell 1/6