Trott and Vince lead Lions fightback

Jonathan Trott and James Vince made battling half-centuries for England Lions in their uphill struggle to avoid defeat in the second four-day match against South Africa A in Bloemfontein, writes Andy Wilson. The Lions were in deep trouble when the teenage fast bowler Kagiso Rabada dismissed Yorkshire team-mates Adam Lyth and Alex Lees in consecutive overs after lunch, leaving the tourists tottering on 81 for three in their second innings, still 80 runs behind. But Vince joined Trott to steady the ship, just as they had in the first match in Paarl, and by the time play was stopped by a violent storm shortly after tea they had put on 97, and at 178 for three the Lions had nudged ahead by 17. They extended the partnership to 115 when play resumed two hours later, with Trott reaching 53 from 82 balls. His dismissal, lbw to Dane Piedt, was a major blow, but Vince continued to play positively to reach an unbeaten 62 when bad light stopped play at 6.20pm, with the Lions on 212 for four, 51 ahead. Earlier the Lions seamers had polished off the last three wickets in South Africa A’s first innings for 32 runs inside 10 overs. Boyd Rankin made the first breakthrough, having Rory Kleinveldt caught behind for 22, and the big paceman ended with deservedly good figures of 4-79 from 27 overs. Liam Plunkett then fired out Rabada and Piedt in the space of four balls to complete figures of 3-75. But the Lions made a grim start to their second innings when Sam Robson was bowled by the first ball he faced from Kleinveldt, chopping a short one on to his stumps. Lyth and Lees survived a searching examination to reach lunch, and they had put on 77 when Lyth drove at Rabada and edged a catch to slip. Lees fell to a more unorthodox dismissal, appearing to lose sight of a full-toss from Rabada which deflected off his pads and on to the stumps – a cruel way to go for the tall left-hander, whose 39 was his highest and longest innings of the series. Batting coach Graham Thorpe praised Trott and especially Vince for keeping the Lions in the game going into the last day. “I was really pleased with the way they played in that partnership,” he said. “We’d lost three wickets but they wiped out the deficit. “It was a shame to lose Trotty there at the end but I thought James Vince played very well today, probably the best I’ve seen him play in this environment, so that’s very pleasing to see a lad take confidence and heart from his performance in Paarl, and put some fighting runs into this game for us. “We’re behind in the game after playing poorly the first two days, but going into the last day we’ve put ourselves in a position where if we have a fantastic day we’ll either save the game or have an opportunity to win it. “But we know we’ve got to bat until beyond lunch and maybe a little bit more, and it could be an interesting game. Chasing runs on the last innings is never easy, so that’s our challenge for tomorrow, to give our bowlers a chance.” Click here for the live scorecard: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/737429.html