London, July 13: Avishkar Salvi, Irfan Pathan and L Balaji came up with fine all-round performances as India 'A' pulled off a thrilling one-wicket victory against Lancashire county in a one-day cricket match at the Stanley Park in Blackpool today. The three fast bowlers shared all the ten wickets between themselves to bundle out Lancashire for 191 in 47 overs before chipping in with vital contributions with the bat to carry their team through.
With India 'A' staring defeat after slipping to 133 for 8, Pathan, who had earlier finished with outstanding bowling figures of 4-19 from his ten overs, produced a crucial unbeaten 19-run innings to see his side home.
He put on 22 runs for the ninth wicket with Balaji (18) and 37 for the unfinished last wicket with Salvi (20 not out).
The trio had earlier wrecked the Lancashire innings, which also made a late recovering thanks to a remarkable 130-run ninth wicket stand between Chris Schofield and Gregor Maiden.
Lancashire, which had been put in to bat, found themselves tottering at 61 for eight before Schofield (69 not out) and Maiden (62) gave a respectability to their total.
Salvi and Balaji claimed three wickets each.
The good work of the fast bowlers was nearly undone by the batsmen as the entire India 'A' top order was back in pavilion before the score had touched 100.
But the tailenders rose to the ocassion and chipped in with important scores to take their side past the target with more than five overs to spare. Bureau Report