First ODI falls victim to rain

CHESTER-LE-STREET: The first one-day international between England and India was abandoned as a no result here on Saturday because of rain.

India with Parthiv Patel making 95 made 274-7 from 50 overs but only managed to bowl 7.2 overs at the hosts before the rain came and the match was called off with England 27-2 with Jonathan Trott 14 not out and Ian Bell two not out.

Praveen Kumar took both wickets - captain Alastair Cook edged onto his stumps and Craig Kieswetter was trapped leg before.

But India are sweating on the fitness of Sachin Tendulkar who will see a surgeon on Monday about an old toe injury that kept him out of this game.

Patel's 95 came from 107 balls with 12 fours and he shared a stand of 103 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli who made 55.

Patel's well-paced innings looked like giving him his first three figure score for Indian until he was caught behind off James Anderson giving the England bowler his 200th wicket in one-day internationals.

Suresh Raina added 38 from 29 balls before he was deceived by a slower bouncer from Jade Denbach and gave Alastair Cook a simple catch at leg slip.

While captain MS Dhoni was there towards the end of the innings a total of 300 looked possible but the Indians stalled in the final overs as England snapped up three wickets in the last two overs.

On a gloomy day in the north east of England Cook put India in after winning the toss but his bowlers struggled as the Indian opening pair of Patel and Ajinkya Rahane put on 87 for the first wicket.

Rahane was first to go - caught in at fine leg by Samit Patel top-edging a hook from Stuart Broad - and Rahul Dravid went for just two.

Dravid edged a ball from Stuart Broad to Craig Kieswetter but stood him ground when the England side appealed.

The Hot Spot technology failed to pick up the edge but third umpire Marais Erasmus told the on-field officials he had heard a noise and that was enough for Dravid to be given out.

Kohli and Patel took the score on before Patel, sniffing his milestone, tamely edged behind and Rohit Sharma was hit on the hand first ball by Broad and retired hurt.

Raina and Dhoni swung the bat - but the steady loss of wickets meant India could not get away from England and two wickets in the last over of the innings for Tim Bresnan put the brakes on.

With Tendulkar missing the match his wait for his 100th international hundred goes on and for England Graeme Swann was suffering from a stomach virus leaving Samit Patel to take on the role of senior spinner.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011