Raina pours it on against England

LONDON: Suresh Raina hit 84 as India made 280-5 off their 50 overs after being put in to bat in the fourth one-day international here at Lord's on Sunday.

Raina shared a stand of 169 with captain MS Dhoni (78 not out) which was the highest fifth wicket partnership for India in one-day internationals against England as India posted a challenging total.

Dhoni faced 71 balls, hitting six fours and three sixes, whilst Raina, who accelerated late in his innings faced 75 balls and hit seven fours and two sixes.

But it looked like it would be a different story when India were 110-4 in 26th over.

Graeme Swann had just dismissed Virat Kholi and Rahul Dravid in his first over and one more wicket would have exposed the Indian tail.

But Raina and Dhoni got their side to a score well above the average first innings one-day total here with aggressive batting which delighted the hordes of Indian supporters at the ground.

They helped their side to add 109 off the last ten overs with both batsmen hitting the English bowlers high into stands as India finally enjoyed themselves after a dismal summer in England.

In a bad session for England Stuart Broad went off without completing the final over holding his arm and Steve Finn was called on to bowl the rest of the over.

Earlier, Broad had dismissed both openers Parthiv Patel for 27 and Ajinkya Rahane for 38 but Finn, playing his first match of the series, went wicketless despite bowling well.

He eventually snared Raina when he was asked to replace Broad when the batsman was superbly caught by Ben Stokes in the deep.

England lead the five-match series 2-0 with one no result and one match left to play, in Cardiff, on Friday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011