Salisbury steps in

Cricket Alan Wells' England A team have every chance of adding to the senior team's honours when they embark on the final day of the second "Test" against India A in Calcutta today.

At 80 for 2 in their second innings, they need a further 174 runs to win and seal a 2-0 series victory after mounting a determined fightback in the field on yesterday's fourth day.

India A, having resumed on 204 for 2, were coasting along at 300 for 4 but Ian Salisbury then took two wickets in nine balls with his leg-spin to swing the pendulum back England's way.

The left-arm spinners, Min Patel and Richard Stemp, captured a wicket each, while Patel ran out Sairaj Bahutule with a brilliant pick-up and throw from the fine-leg boundary.

Dominic Cork, who had made two important strikes with the second new ball in the morning, then returned to cut short a stubborn last-wicket stand of 22.

Chasing 254 to win, England lost Michael Vaughan for a single run and, just before the close, Jason Gallian for 37, while Nick Knight remained undefeated on 39.

(Fourth day: India A won toss)

INDIA A - First Innings 216 (U Chatterjee 72no).

ENGLAND - First Innings 316 (J E R Gallian 77, A P Wells 93; P L K Mhambrey 4-63).

INDIA A - Second Innings (Overnight: 204 for 2)

V S Rathore c Nixon b Cork 127

R Dravid c Nixon b Cork 52

*P K Amre c Wells b Salisbury 43

S C Ganguly b Salisbury 25

S V Bahutule run out 15

V S Yadav c Knight b Patel 4

U Chatterjee c Nixon b Stemp 10

R K Chauhan lbw b Cork 11

P L K Mhambrey not out 11

Extras (b11 lb5 nb3) 19

Total (129.3 overs) 353

Fall (cont): 3-222 4-239 5-300 6-301 7-319 8-326 9-331.

Bowling: Cork 19.3-1-53-3; Chapple 21-8-47-0; Stemp 42-12-104-2; Salisbury 14-0-57-2; Patel 33-7-76-2.

ENGLAND A - Second Innings N V Knight not out 39

M P Vaughan lbw b Ganguly 1

J E R Gallian st Yadav b Chauhan 37

M M Patel not out 0

Extras (lb1 nb2) 3

Total (for 2, 26 overs) 80

Fall: 1-4 2-77.

To bat: *A P Wells, D L Hemp, D G Cork, P A Nixon, G Chapple, I D K Salisbury, R D Stemp.

Bowling: Mhambrey 5-0-21-0; Ganguly 3-0-13-1; Chatterjee 5-0-21-0; Chauhan 8-3-17-1; Bahutule 5-1-7-0.

Umpires: A V Jayaprakash and S K Bansal.