Date-stamped : 16 Dec94 - 14:27
England (M.C.C.) v West Zone
Poona, Nov. 29, 30, Dec. 1 1976 - Drawn

In spite of having much the better of the  run  of  play,  M.C.C.
could  not  make  a  positive  bid for victory because their pace
bowlers were either injured or ill.

Batting first, West Zone made 257 on the first day. With three of
their stars, Gavaskar, Ashok Mankad and Ghavri engaged in the fi-
nal Test against New Zealand, at Madras, the home side`s  batting
was  well  below  strength. They were 218 for 5 at one stage, but
Willis struck devastatingly with the second new ball and the last
five  wickets went down for only 39 runs. Willis had figures of 5
for 24.

The M.C.C. pace bowlers must have been  well  pleased  with  this
first  pitch  of  the  tour. It was well-grassed and offered some
pace. The collapse which they inflicted on West Zone  would  have
set  in earlier had Fletcher, at slip, not put down Bhalekar, off
Old, when he was 5. Bhalekar went on to make the top score of  66
and  with  Solkar (57), added 103 for the fifth wicket. The other
main scorer was Vengsarkar, a young batsman trying  to  get  back
into  the  Test side. He batted with the care and caution typical
of a trialist.

The M.C.C. reply, beginning with the second  day,  extended  well
beyond the half-way stage of the last. They had little option but
to bat for so long, because Willis, Selvey and Old were  all  put
out of action. M.C.C. declared at 585 for 5, the biggest score on
six tours of India except for the 603 registered  against  Madras
Presidency, at Madras, in 1933-34.  But there was a record creat-
ed on this occasion - Brearley scoring the first  double  century
for M.C.C. in India.

The first 60 runs of Brearley` 202 were  tediously  slow,  taking
three  hours. Then he cut loose and, scoring mainly in fours, ad-
ded 134 runs in the remaining two and a half hours of the  second
day.  Fletcher also made a century. His innings followed the same
pattern as Brearley`s, in that with time it improved  in  quality
and  gained  in authority. On the last day Greig scored a rumbus-
tious 162 not out against a flagging attack  and  Tolchard   made
runs  steadily.  Randall,  run out, was the only one not to feast
himself.

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