England lose warm-up one-dayer

By Tom Bason
March 26 2006

An England team featuring just two Ashes heroes were defeated by a Rajasthan President's XI by only 5 runs in a tense finish in Jaipur

It was captain Vikram Solanki who won the toss, and put the Presidents XI into bat. England started very well, with Mahmood and Anderson forcing the two openers into loose shots, both caught by Prior and Batty. Mahmood however only lasted 3 overs due to an upset stomach, and Jadeja, the home captain allowed Paul Collingwood as a full time substitute. Raina and Kaif then shared 72 runs in their 3rd wicket partnership, before Shar caught Raina off Collingwood. The loss of his partner didn't affect Kaif, who went on to make a wonderful 119 NO, in amidst Rao, Jadeja & Patel all reaching double figures, pushing the Presidents XI along to a total of 260. Paul Collingwood was the pick of the English bowlers, claiming 2 wickets for 28 from 7 overs.

Englands run chase started badly, with Solanki caught by Raina for a duck, with England having scored just 10 runs. Matt Prior, the other opener, scored a quick-fire 55 off just 67 balls. Unfortunately, the rest of Englands top order failed, with Shar gaining just 2 runs, and Pietersen disappointingly run out on 28. Ian Bell, the pick of Englands batsmen scored an excellent 71, and with Collingwood and Blackwell both getting 34 and 23 respectively, it was game on. However, despite Kabir Ali scoring 25 NO, the rest of the tail scored just 7 runs between them, to leave England agononisingly close to catching the Presidents XI score