Unknown spin gun takes four England scalps
CAPTAIN Joe Root was among three English half-centurions, but a sandy-haired Australian leg-spinner curbed the tourists’ Ashes preparations yesterday.
Unheralded tweaker Daniel Fallins took four English wickets for the Cricket Australia XI on the opening day of the tour match in Adelaide.
England made 8-278 in the pink-ball fixture, but while Root (58), Mark Stoneman (61) and Dawid Malan (63) thrived, opener Alastair Cook failed again. After a second-ball duck in England’s tour opener against a West Australian XI last week, Cook mustered only 15 from 28 balls against a callow CA XI.
Fallins, a 21-year-old making his first-class debut, took four consecutive English scalps including Root and Stoneman and finished with 4-71 from 21 overs. The NSW rookie-listed spinner also dismissed England’s first-drop James Vince (33) and Jonny Bairstow (nine).
Fallins’ feats curtailed the English batsmen in their tuneup for the first Test against Australia starting on November 23 in Brisbane.
Stalwart Cook missed a chance for meaningful time at the crease, feathering an outside edge from an attempted forward defensive shot off the bowling of paceman Jackson Coleman (3-66).
Fallins then went on his wicket-taking ways as the tourists slipped from 1-85 to 5-195. With just his fifth ball, the leg-spinner bowled Vince.
After Root and Stoneman added 70 runs, the latter fell to a diving catch at midwicket by Jake Carter. And just before the dinner break, Fallins ruined Root’s plans of gaining pink-ball batting experience at night when the skipper was caught at mid-off.