India U19 reduce England to 230/5 after piling up 540

Rocky Flintoff, son of former captain Andrew Flintoff, made a solid 93 but England U19 wobbled to 239 for five against their Indian counterparts at close on Day 2 of the four-day Youth Test here on Sunday. Flintoff’s 152-ball innings ensured that the home side would not fall apart entirely in the face of India’s mammoth first innings total of 540. But they are still 310 runs shy of the visitors' score.

Thomas Rew (3) and Eknath Singh (0) were at crease when the stumps were drawn. After the early departure of Archie Vaughan, son of former England skipper Michael Vaughan, and Jaydn Denly, nephew of former England opener Joe, Rocky found an ideal partner in captain Hamza Sheikh (84, 134 balls).

They added 154 runs for a fine third wicket alliance as England moved to 191 for two. But the part-time left-arm spin of Vaibhav Suryavanshi ended the stay of Sheikh, caught by Henil Patel at deep, and that dismissal opened the door for India. They added the wicket of Flintoff and Ben Mayes (11) to peg back the hosts.

Earlier, India, starting from their overnight 450 for seven, added a further 90 runs to the total, courtesy RS Ambarish’s 70 off 124 balls. The Tamil Nadu young man, who started the day from 31, had a good partnership of 82 runs for the eighth wicket to Henil (38). PTI