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East Zone v England A, Duleep Trophy, Amritsar, 4th day
East Zone overcome England A
Wisden Cricinfo staff
March 1, 2004
East Zone 283 and 308 beat England A 225 and 273 (Pietersen 94, Lahiri 5-118) by 93 runs
Scorecard
England A's disappointing tour of India came to a tame end at Amritsar as they slumped to a 93-run defeat against East Zone. England had been set a daunting - but by no means insurmountable - total of 367 for victory, but despite yet another blistering assault from Kevin Pietersen, they finished well short as East Zone's offspinner Saurasish Lahiri whittled his way to a five-wicket haul.
England began the day on 78 for 2, needing a further 288 for victory. And for most of the morning session Pietersen and Ed Smith seemed to be in control. But, having added 99 for the third wicket, Smith was lured out of his crease by Lahiri and stumped for 42 by the former Test wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta.
Pietersen, who has been the outstanding success among England's batsmen, continued to demolish the East Zone bowlers. He was on course for his fifth century of the tour when he became Dasgupta's second dismissal of the morning, caught behind for 94 - from just 52 balls - off the occasional offspin of Kiran Powar (176 for 4).
By lunch, England A had reached 211 for 4, but in the afternoon the run-chase imploded. Matt Prior was caught, again by Dasgupta, off Shib Paul for 46, and the tail was exposed. Graham Napier and Kadeer Ali resisted for a time, but when Napier was caught and bowled by Lahiri for 17, James Tredwell followed almost immediately, lbw to Paul for 0 (253 for 7).
The end of the innings came at a clatter, with the last three wickets falling for one run. Kadeer was left unbeaten on 34, as England were left to reflect on a tour that never quite lived up to expectations.
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