Hyderabad, Oct 9: England pacer Steven Finn produced a sensational hattrick to help England register a 56-run victory over Hyderabad XI in their first warm-up game here on Saturday, ahead of their five-match ODI series against India.
Finn dismissed Amol Shinde, Pagadala Naidu and Anwar Ahmed in three consecutive balls of the 37th over to wrap up Hyderabad XI's tail and notch up a moral-boosting win in their first match in Indian soil.
Hyderabad XI bowlers did well to bowl out England for 219 in only 47.2 overs on a slow Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium track but their batsmen failed to capitalise on the good work and produced a spineless display.
Defending a modest 219, Steven Finn returned with figures of four for 28 in his 7.5 overs, while Chris Woakes scalped two wickets for 30 runs to bowl out Hyderabad XI for 163 runs in 36.5 overs.
Jade Dernbach (1/37) and off-spinner Samit Patel also chipped in with a wicket each for the touring side.
Arjun Yadav top-scored for Hyderabad with 74-ball 47 before he was run out by captain Alastair Cook in the 30th over.
Apart from Yadav, Neeraj Bist (29), Amol Shinde (25) and Mohhammed Khader (19) all got starts before fading away in front of the fierry English bowling attack.
Earlier, England batsmen failed to get their acts together as Hyderabad bowled them out for 219 in only 47.2 overs on a low and slow Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium track.
England skipper Cook won the toss and elected to bat but none of his top-order batsmen, except Ravi Bopara, could force the pace against an unfancied Hyderabad attack.
Bopara top-scored with 73 from only 82 deliveries with the help of three boundaries and a six. England were down in the dumps at 169 for seven before medium-pacer Chris Woakes contributed an useful unbeaten 46 to take the team's score past 200. He added 42 runs for the eighth wicket with Graeme Swann (18).
The top-four of the much vaunted England line-up disappointed on the day with Jonathan Trott making 7, skipper Alastair Cook scoring a run less than his opening partner.
Kevin Pietersen hit a couple of boundaries during his brief stay at the crease but could make only 16 before he was caught by Ashish Reddy off pacer Anwar Ahmed's bowling. Ian Bell was dismissed by medium pacer Ashish after scoring only four runs.
If right-arm seamer Anwar who grabbed three for 35 ran through the top-order, left-arm medium fast bowler Mohammed Khader three for 25 polished off the tail. Ashish got a couple of wickets while Naidu got one wicket.
The two teams will face off again in the second warm-up game on October 11 before the ODI series begins here on October 14. PTI
