Patel's ton gives England advantage

Samit Patel cemented his claims to a Test return by completing his maiden England century against India A at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday morning.

As this first tour match moved towards an inevitable stalemate on the final day, England's priorities were exclusively to ensure best preparation for the four-Test series ahead.

Patel (104) for one will move forward with confidence and hopes high, as will Yuvraj Singh - who finished with five for 94, after snaring his old adversary Kevin Pietersen on Wednesday, as England reached 426 all out to lead by 57. By tea, their hosts were safely back in front on 66 for one second time round.

Yuvraj added the wickets of Matt Prior (51), Patel and finally James Anderson on Thursday.

Much was made of the home selectors' decision to pick no specialist spinner for this match, thus depriving England of the chance to attune themselves to the challenge which will await them courtesy of R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha in the Tests.

But part-time slow left-armer Yuvraj, better-known as a batsman, nonetheless took the bowling honours in an innings underpinned by a stand of 169 between Alastair Cook (119) and Patel. That fifth-wicket partnership finally ended on Thursday morning when the captain succumbed at last, caught behind pushing forward at Ashok Dinda.

Patel was joined by a typically fluent Prior, who produced a series of trademark cuts on his way to a run-a-ball half-century before edging an attempted drive at Yuvraj to Suresh Raina at slip.

Patel fell in the same over, nowhere near the pitch but going through with an attempted drive and simply chipping a catch to cover.

Graeme Swann was yorked by R Vinay Kumar before lunch. But Tim Bresnan and Anderson kept India A waiting afterwards, in a stand of 37 until the latter poked a sweep at Yuvraj straight to short-leg and the innings closed with the injured Steven Finn unavailable to bat.

Anderson's reward was to get the ball back in his hands, and he soon had opener Abhinav Mukund mis-hitting a catch straight to mid-off - before Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay shared an unbroken half-century stand.