England A's fourth round match against Barbados ended in a disappointing draw after a show of resilience from the Bridgetown batsmen that deprived the visitors of the last four wickets needed to wrap up victory.

When play concluded on the final day 20 minutes before the scheduled close, Barbados who were following on, had edged their way to 229 for six, having passed the England A first innings total by 35 runs.

Adrian Griffith Photo CricInfo

Only five wickets fell on the final day after opener Adrian Griffith made 84 and Ian Bradshaw, the skipper, batted doggedly for an hour and a half for an unbeaten 18 to add to his century in the first innings.

Bradshaw won man of the match for his efforts, which also included three important wickets in England A's innings.

Resuming on their overnight score of 27 for one, Barbados were well aware they had to play defensively to save the match but after six overs, with left-arm spinner Usman Afzaal already in action, they suffered a setback when Sean Armstrong was caught at silly point by Michael Powell.

Afzaal was bowling into the rough outside the off-stump to the two left-handers Griffith and Ryan Hinds and the ploy was effective as the ball jerked around awkwardly making life difficult for the batsmen and also for wicketkeeper James Foster who stood more than a foot away from the stumps and wore a helmet, alternating with a cap while keeping to leg-spinner Chris Schofield.

But a missed chance off Afzaal which would have seen the back of Griffith for 30 proved expensive. Ian Ward at gully failed to take an easy catch, his view possibly impaired by Powell fielding at silly point.

Griffith and Hinds went on to forge a partnership worth 84 before one of Afzaal's many exuberant appeals for lbw found success with the umpire but by then Barbados were 116 for three and England A's chances of victory were beginning to evaporate.

A first over wicket with the new ball for Alex Tudor, taken at around 2.30pm, again raised England A hopes and when Powell produced a brilliant return from mid-wicket which clipped the bail before Courtney Browne made his ground, the job was more than half done.

But a rapid softening of the ball swung the game back in Barbados' favour and Bradshaw and Dave Marshall defended well to steer their side out of danger to make sure of the draw and three points.

Afterwards, Alleyne said England A had tried their best but the pitch offered little assistance to the bowlers, especially the seamers.

"I thought all the guys bowled really well. The wicket was unresponsive for bowlers and we managed to sneak a couple of early wickets every time. Of the seamers when the ball got older, I thought Jon Lewis bowled particularly well.

"I'm delighted for him because we thought bowlers doing an Angus Fraser type job could be quite successful and he has done that job, just hitting back of a length, quite accurate and quite straight and it has been difficult to get a few lbw decisions otherwise his figures would be more prolific.

"The wicket was very unresponsive to the quick bowlers unless the ball was hard and we just thought the spinners were getting a couple of chances every over and causing more problems," Alleyne said defending tactics that attracted criticism for being negative.

"When you have a good partnership and you are trying to bowl at one particular person it may look untidy at times but we were well in control and just needed a bit of luck.

"It was great to be out there because we dominated the whole match and were never in any danger of losing it. That was a nice feeling but it was a shame that we didn't have another 50 overs then we could really have forced home the advantage but 360 overs is quite a short game on flat wickets."

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