Jamie Porter took 5-36 on Sunday but it wasn’t enough to prevent England Lions falling to a five-wicket defeat in their tour match against an Indian Board President’s XI at Thiruvananthapuram.
England Lions opened the batting but were skittled for 104 with the innings lasting just 22.3 overs. Sam Billings scored 52, but Will Jacks was the only other player to reach double figures with 14.
In reply Porter swiftly removed the top three, but an unbeaten 36 from Deepak Hooda and 34 for Captain Ishan Kishan moved the home side close to victory.
Porter finally got rid of Kishan and had Himmat Singh caught behind with the very next ball, but his efforts just delayed the inevitable and Hooda sealed the victory for the hosts in the 22nd over.
Porter commented: “It’s nice to get a few wickets to take a bit of confidence going into the [ODI] series.
“[The low target] made me hang in there a bit longer with my length and trying to find a bit of movement out of the pitch. In other situations, I may have got to changeups or used more bouncers, but I tried to be as aggressive as I could.
“Today shows that not all the wickets are going to be dustbowls, they are capable of leaving a bit of grass on it for the seamers, so it’s not all bad for us out here!”
