England Lions face challenge to save second 'Test' against India A

England Lions face a battle to save the second unofficial Test against India A, having been asked to follow on after being bowled out for 144 in reply to the home side’s 392.

The day started very positively for the Lions, taking the final seven Indian wickets for 110 runs. Zak Chappell put in another excellent spell to remove Karun Nair, Siddhesh Lad and Jalej Saxena in the space of five overs to take his tally to four wickets in the innings and seven in the series.

Danny Briggs also picked up three wickets, including dangerman KS Bharat, who was fell lbw to the Sussex left-arm spinner for 46.

England, though, couldn’t take the momentum into their innings, losing wickets regularly in their innings of 144. Ollie Pope (25) was the only batsman to pass 20 before he was bowled by a Navdeep Saini delivery that moved a long way off the pitch to remove his middle stump.

India captain KL Rahul put the Lions back into bat, with Ben Duckett (13*) and Max Holden (5*) seeing out the final 20 minutes of play.

Scorecard: www.ecb.co.uk/matches/10677

Quotes

Zak Chappell

“I’m happy with the way I’ve bowled [in the two ‘Tests’]. Obviously there are areas that I can improve on - I’ve written them down and gone through them with the coaches – but overall I’m reasonably satisfied.

“You have to be disciplined here. They’re good batters so if you bowl bad balls they will put them away for four. [Mysore is] the same as any wicket – if you hit a good line and length to dry them up then you’re in with a good chance of getting wickets.

“The bowlers bowled well overall, and the Indians played well. Our batters are learning quickly out here in foreign conditions that they’re not used to. They are learning and getting better against a good Indian attack. As long as we keep on improving that’s all we can ask for.”