England Lions coast to five-wicket win

England Lions overcame the loss of their captain Alastair Cook to injury and cruised to their second victory of the tri-series by beating India A by five wickets and more than four overs to spare. A collective performance with the ball dismissed the visitors for 254 before contributions from all of the batsmen sealed the result.

Stand-in captain Andrew Gale asked India A to bat and the Lions' bowlers were faced with the challenge of curbing a fluent start. Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan added 54 before Peter Trego struck the first blow, dismissing Dhawan for 24. India A progressed steadily to 112 for 2 before the slide began. The seamers struck at regular intervals and soon the score read 145 for 5 in 31 overs.

Cheteshwar Pujara held the innings together with a half-century ; India A had recovered to 234 for 6 and were poised for a final thrust. Ajmal Shahzad, however, struck twice in the 47th over and dismissed Pujara for 73. Shahzad finished with 3 for 56, while Bopara had claimed three top-order wickets to end with 3 for 32.

The Lions' top five batsmen got off to starts but all of them failed to carry on and, at 165 for 5 after 31 overs, India A held the edge. Dhawal Kulkarni and Manoj Tiwary had taken two wickets apiece. Darren Stevens and Trego, however, came together and forged a match-winning 90-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Stevens was unbeaten on 58 and Trego on 48 when the winnings runs were scored.