India A vs England: Sam Billings gets tourists off to good start ahead of ODI series
England successfully chased down 305 to win by three wickets
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Your support makes all the difference.Sam Billings ensured England's one-day tour of India began with a win, anchoring a successful pursuit of 305 against Mahendra Singh Dhoni's India A in Mumbai.
Billings, fresh from a Big Bash stint with Sydney Sixers, may have owed his place in the side to the delayed arrival of new father Joe Root but made a compelling case with a measured 93 as England squeezed home by three wickets at the Brabourne Stadium.
Billings faced 85 balls and hit eight fours but fell before the job was done, Chris Woakes claiming the winning boundary with seven deliveries to spare to lay down a strong first marker before the series proper.
For this was no ordinary warm-up outing, Dhoni leading an India side for probably the final time following his resignation as ODI skipper and joined for the occasion by a host of seasoned internationals and more than 20,000 adoring fans.
India A showed their calibre with the bat as Ambati Rayudu retired on 100, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh made half-centuries and Dhoni, inevitably, capped things with 68 unbeaten runs at the close.
But England showed calm heads to make their way past a challenging target, with Jason Roy (62), Jos Buttler (46) and Liam Dawson (41) backing up Billings' centrepiece.
Roy kicked off the pursuit by driving Ashish Nehra's first ball back down the ground for four, setting the tone for an explosive start to the chase.
The Surrey man contributed 34 of England's 58 runs in the first 10 overs, picking on Nehra with disregard.
The arrival of Mohit Sharma brought Alex Hales into play, with four fours and a six off the seamer seeing him to 40 before Yadav struck with just his third delivery.
Roy reverse swept his way past 50 in just 49 balls then lifted Yuzvendra Chalal over the square-leg ropes for six. But his adventurous side cost him in the end, Yadav picking up a second wicket as a mighty heave resulted in a tame top edge.
England were well ahead of the rate but Eoin Morgan's first England innings in four months, the captain having sat out the Bangladesh tour on safety grounds, was a brief one.
Morgan was hardly to blame though, Dhawan pulling off a blinding catch at slip from the Irishman's reverse-sweep.
That left a rebuilding job for Buttler and Billings, who performed diligently before some long straight hits from Buttler and Billings' wristy reverse sweeps upped the ante.
Buttler had deposited Yuvraj for successive sixes but came undone seeking a third off Yadav and was easily held at long-off for 46.
Moeen Ali was lbw for a duck two balls later, giving Yadav four wickets, and once again Billings was left to steady things. He found a doughty ally in Dawson, with the pair running hard and often to keep ahead of the game as boundaries became scarce.
Billings looked in control and successive fours off Nehra in 40th over left England needing 59 from the final 10, just under one-per-ball.
The straightforward path was never likely and first Dawson, then Billings, stumbled before the line. The latter lost his leg stump to Pandya, shuffling across the crease, and stared aghast at the night sky before trudging off.
Woakes ensured there were no further dramas and a well-earned win was England's in the penultimate over.
Rayudu was the glue of the first innings, sharing in stands on 111 with Dhawan and 114 with Yuvraj before falling on his sword, retiring out to give Dhoni the stage.
Unlike Dhawan, Yuvraj and Dhoni, Rayudu is not part of the senior squad that will contest the three-match one-day series against England and it was surely with some reluctance that he departed the scene.
But theatre-goers rarely come to see an understudy, no matter how accomplished, and the change of batsman was greeted deliriously.
Dhoni is not prone to stage fright but struggled for timing early on, playing and missing with some ambitious swings of the bat. If he doubted his hero status, the emergence of a pitch invader who stopped in the middle to pay homage at his feet probably did the trick.
Thereafter he reeled off some fine strokes and finished in style, clubbing Woakes for 23 in the final over of the innings. Two crisp sixes brought the crowd to fever pitch and confirmed to England that this most dangerous of batsmen is ready to inflict more damage when hostilities begin for real in Pune.
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