ENGLAND v INDIA 1974

At The Oval, July 16, 17. England won by six wickets. India's decision to pack the side with batsmen and play only three front line bowlers proved a mistaken one, for England had plenty to spare in winning the second match of the series to take the Prudential Trophy.

The match went into a second day because the weather interfered shortly after the completion of India's innings on Monday. With so much batting at their command India went for the runs in enterprising style, but man after man got out when looking well set. When six wickets had gone for 94 it looked likely that England would win in a canter but Viswanath and Mankad added 45 good runs in 11 overs. Mankad batted admirably to squeeze as many runs as he did out of the last three wickets, but the tourists had paced themselves so badly that they did not use up their last 7.3 allotted overs.

England made 19 for the loss of Smith in seven overs before play ended on the first day. Next morning all was not plain sailing. Madan Lal and Abid Ali gave nothing away and Bose, the first of the irregular bowlers, was fairly economical. The loss of Edrich and Lloyd in successive overs made England 71 for three in the 26th over. Then Mankad of gentle medium pace had to be used. He raised hopes by getting Denness taken at cover in his second over, but thereafter was roughly handled. Fletcher and Greig finished the match by taking 18 runs from Mankad's last five balls, Fletcher finishing with 55 not out after batting for 23 overs.