England Lions’ skipper Michael Yardy stood firm to hit an unbeaten 151 leading his side to a respectable 273 for four against West Zone after the end of opening day’s play of the Duleep Trophy match played here on Monday.
Electing to bat, Lions’ suffered a blow early on as they lost their opener Michael Carberry in the second over of the innings after Gujarat left-arm pacer Ashraf Makda trapped him in front providing a crucial breakthrough to his team.
Yardy joined Denly in the middle and batted all through the day frustrating West Zone bowler. His 353 minutes stay at the wicket set the tone for the English side. Yardy reached to his century in 212 balls.
Yardy hammered 20 fours, ending the day unbeaten on 151. Nightwatchman Graham Onions and Yardy were at the crease when stumps were drawn
It’s a crucial match for the West Zone team, as they needed an outright win to make it to the finals of the tournament. Ashraf Makhda, who got in place of Munaf Patel, grabbed the opportunity with both hands and bowled superbly for West, claiming three for 57 in a one spell of 16 overs.
Makhda admitted later that he just stuck to line and length and it’s because the batsmen who made mistakes and paid the price. All the three batsmen got trapped leg before after the movement in the air foxed them.
England Lions blossomed as its skipper put on sizeable partnerships with Joyce and Trott. Joyce and Yardy added 75 runs for the third wicket while Trott was involved in a colossal 141-run stand for the fourth wicket with his skipper.
Trott, however, was unlucky to miss out his half-century as he got out on the score of 44 just before close of play. Joe Denly was also unlucky, as he lost his wicket after seamer Siddharth Trivedi’s hand touched the ball en-route to take out the stumps at the non-striker’s end on a Yardy’s straight drive.
England Lions First innings
M. Carberry lbw A. Makhda 1, J. Denly (run out) 32, M. Yardy (batting) 151, Ed Joyce lbw A. Makhda 32, J. Trott lbw b A Makhda 44, G. Onions (batting) 0; Extras (b-4, lb-8, nb-1): 13; Total (for four wkts. in 92 overs): 273.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-51, 3-126, 4-267.
West Zone bowling: Trivedi 17-0-50-0, Makhda 16-3-57-3, Jobanputra 8-3-22-0, Powar 21-1-59-0, Dhruv 13-2-38-0, Pathan 15-6-24-0, Rahane 2-0-11-0.
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