Cricket: difficult day for England in Baroda

[bad_meetz_evil]

England endured a difficult opening day to their warm-up match in Baroda as they were bowled out for 238 by an Indian Board President's XI.

The home side then eased to 93-1 by the close of play to leave the tourists with plenty to think about with less than a week to go before the first Test in Nagpur.

However, England's biggest concern will not be their poor performance but the fitness of two key players.

After losing skipper Michael Vaughan before the start of play to a recurrence of a knee problem, the visitors saw Pietersen forced to retire hurt after straining his back while batting.

The Hampshire batsman tried to carry on with a runner after receiving treatment on the field but was eventually forced to cut short his promising innings on 47.

That proved to be the top score for England as they paid the price for a sluggish start and a terrible finish to their innings after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.

Marcus Trescothick, who took over the captaincy duties with Vaughan not playing, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell and Andrew Flintoff, after scoring just a single, all fell in the opening session as England stumbled to 72-4 at lunch.

Pietersen's brief stay at the crease did at least get the scoreboard moving in the afternoon and Geraint Jones gained some valuable time out in the middle with a patient knock of 46.

The wicketkeeper-batsman combined with Ian Blackwell (33) and Liam Plunkett (37) to move England through to 232-5 at one stage just after tea.

But, Jones' departure for 46 sparked a lower order collapse as the final four wickets fell for just six runs in 21 balls, seamer Munaf Patel picking up two to finish with 5-59.

In contrast to their opponents, Indian Board XI openers Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir found life easy going against England's seamers.

The duo appeared to be easing towards a century stand for the first wicket until spinner Blackwell finally gave his team-mates something to cheer about when he trapped Jaffer lbw for 48.

[Siddhant]

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