Durham pace duo of Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse wreaked havoc on a depleted India A side as England Lions bowled the host out for a 192 in the third and final unofficial Test here on Thursday.
At stumps on the opening day of the four-day fixture, England Lions was placed strongly at 98/1, with Alex Lees batting on 48 (106b) in the company of Oliver Price (20; 63b). The visitor trailed by 96 runs.
Potts returned with excellent figures of 6/57, his second successive six-wicket haul, and now has 18 wickets from three matches.
Carse finished with 4/52 from his 12 overs as the duo ensured that the host, missing the services of Sarfaraz Khan and Washington Sundar, was bowled out inside two sessions.
In response, opener Lees anchored the innings with a composed knock and Keaton Jennings contributed 17 runs before being dismissed by Akash Deep. Price and Lees then put together an unbroken 71-run stand to see through the opening day. For India A, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh bowled a tight spell, but remained wicket-less (8-2-19-0).
Leading the three-match series 1-0, the Abhimanyu Easwaran-led side was asked to bat first and faced an early setback when the skipper was trapped in front off the match’s first ball.
After his early patient approach, Tamil Nadu left-hander Sai Sudharsan shouldered arms on an incoming Potts delivery in another horror lbw dismissal, which left India A at 19/2 inside seven overs.
Potts continued his onslaught, grabbing Tilak Varma (22) and Rinku Singh who made a second-successive duck in his debut India A series. Karnataka batter Devdutt Padikkal emerged as the lone fighter with his 65 (96b) but lacked significant support from his teammates.
Potts and Carse maintained pressure on the Indians, with the latter chipping in with four crucial wickets after the early breakthroughs effected by his colleague.
India A, which won the previous unofficial Test by an innings and 16 runs, faces a daunting challenge to fight back in this game.
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