England are led home by Knight by3/42point headline deckyy

CRICKET

England A 254-6; India A 156

England A win by 98 runs

An exhilarating partnership between Nick Knight and Mark Ramprakash allowed England A to finish the Indian leg of their winter tour in impressive style in Hyderabad yesterday. The tourists beat India A in the third one- day international to add a 2-1 series win to their 3-0 triumph in the Tests.

Yesterday's win, under the Lalbahadur Stadium floodlights, was more emphatic than England could possibly have anticipated in a closely fought 50-over clash.

But India A never had a chance to challenge England's score of 254 for 6 after the pace pair Dominic Cork and Glen Chapple initiated a collapse which sent the hosts reeling to 156 all out.

Knight, Warwickshire's capture from Essex, was named man of the match after a superb, unbeaten 114, which gave England's innings backbone and bite throughout.

He shared a breathtaking 118-run stand in 88 minutes with Ramprakash before the England A vice-captain was dismissed for 57, scored from just 63 deliveries and including three sixes.

Knight's innings, made off just 146 deliveries in three and a half hours, was highlighted by four huge sixes into the largely empty stands.

India never recovered from losing their captain Vikram Rathore, Rajesh Puri and wonder boy Amol Muzumdar to the England pacemen with the floodlit scoreboard showing only 25 runs scored.

As Rahul Dravid, Rizwan Shamshad and Sameer Dighe tried desperately to accelerate, the Middlesex off-spinner, Paul Weekes, picked up three vital wickets to rock the Indians once again.

Phil Neale, the England A team manager, praised a "very professional" performance and claimed the tour had been England A's most successful "because they played as a team, with great spirit and no selfishness".

(England A won toss)

ENGLAND A

N V Knight not out 114

D L Hemp c Dravid b Wassan 25

M R Ramprakash b Mhambrey 57

*A P Wells c Rathore b Singh 2

J E R Gallian run out 0

P M Weekes c Shamshad b Singh 7

D G Cork b Wassan 23

K J Piper not out 15

Extras (lb4 w1 nb6) 11

Total (for 6, 50 overs) 254

Fall: 1-46 2-164 3-176 4-177 5-189 6-226.

Did not bat: G Chapple, M M Patel, R D Stemp. Bowling: Mhambrey 10-0- 33-1; Wassan 10-2-34-2; Ankola 8-1-40-0; Singh 10-0-62-2; Chattergee 10-0-65-0; Dravid 2-0-16-0.

INDIA A

*V S Rathore c Gallian b Chapple 4

R Puri c Piper b Cork 2

A A Muzumdar c Hemp b Cork 8

R S Dravid b Stemp 14

R Shamshad c Chapple b Patel 26

S S Dighe c Gallian b Patel 29

A S Wassan c Wells b Weekes 16

U Chattergee run out 23

P L K Mhambrey c Wells b Weekes 9

S A Ankola not out 14

K Singh c Ramprakash b Weekes 5

Extras (lb2 w2 nb2) 6

Total (46 overs) 156

Fall: 1-7 2-7 3-25 4-48 5-72 6-98 7-114 8-137 9-140.

Bowling: Chapple 10-4-20-1; Cork 8-1-23-2; Gallian 3-0-15-0; Stemp 7- 1-20-1; Patel 9-0-36-2; Weekes 9-0-40-3.

Umpires: S S Porel and S Sharma.