Indian debutant puts England in spot

Mohali, India, December 6: Debutant seamer Tinu Yohannan took two quick wickets to boost India's chances of winning the opening cricket Test against England here on Thursday.

England, trailing by 231 runs, were struggling at 127-3 in their second innings at lunch, with Graham Thorpe (26) and Mark Ramprakash (14) at the crease.

The tourists were comfortably placed at 68 for no loss before losing three big wickets in the space to 19 runs to squander the advantage on an easy-paced pitch.

Yohannan provided the breakthrough when he broke the opening-wicket stand between Marcus Trescothick (46) and Mark Butcher (18) in the day's ninth over after the tourists had resumed at 34 for no loss.

Butcher was the first to be dismissed. He failed to control a pull-shot and was caught by substitute Jacob Martin, who brought off a diving catch at deep square-leg.

Trescothick also fell playing one shot too many in the morning session, pulling Yohannan to Iqbal Siddiqui after smashing nine boundaries in his 95-ball knock.

Trescothick added 30 to his overnight score in the first session, which produced 93 runs in 26 overs.

England suffered a big blow when skipper Nasser Hussain inside-edged an Anil Kumble delivery on to his stumps after contributing just 12 to leave his team tottering at 87-3.