England 'A' opened the New Zealand leg of their winter tour with a comprehensive victory over the local Academy XI at Lincoln, Christchurch.

Ralph Dellor: No bowler was innocent as the ball moved around quite out of control"

The match was dominated by an alarming number of wides and no balls, with the ball often swinging wildly out of control.

Alleyne said: "Winning is always important and it was fairly comfortable in the end, but I thought it was a very untidy performance in the field and we've got to be a lot better than that on the rest of the tour.

Aftab Habib's (46 not out) parternship with Alleyne made victory inevitable

"The wicket was fairly helpful and, in truth, we should have had the other side out for no more than 120. We gifted them 30 wides and I'm not quite sure how it happened.

"We're going to talk about it tonight. The ball was doing quite a bit but it was very untidy indeed."

With the loss of three wickets in eight overs, England experienced several early moments of alarm.

But a stand of 108 in 20 overs from Mark Alleyne (53) and Aftab Habib (46 not out) eliminated the possibility of an embarrassing defeat, as England reached their victory total of 184 for the loss of just four wickets.

Apart from an unacceptable number of extras (51), England performed efficiently in the field as the hosts were dismissed at 183-9 from 50 overs.

The tourists worked their way steadily through the Academy order until Tama Canning halted the flow of wickets at number eight. He scored a brisk 43 from 58 balls to give the total an air of respectability.

Michael Gough and Marcus Trescothick appeared in no trouble at the start of the England 'A' innings before Gough (11) was caught at slip off the first ball Canning bowled.

The same bowler then accounted for Trescothick, caught behind for 29, before Vikram Solanki drove Canning loosely to mid-off.

That was when Alleyne joined Habib in a partnership of accelerating tempo as they raced towards the target before the rain that had threatened for most of the day finally arrived.

Alleyne was out shortly after reaching his 50 off 120 balls with five fours. It was left to David Sales to accompany Habib to the finish as the rain intensified.

Scorecard:

NZ Cricket Academy First Innings

H J H Marshall b Silverwood 7
T McIntosh run out 8
N R Parlane c Solanki b Trescothick 40
M N McKenzie b Sheriyar 1
M H W Papps c Sales b Alleyne 9
J E C Franklyn c Turner b Alleyne 3
P D McGlasan c Turner b Trescothick 4
T Canning b Silverwood 43
B E Jansen not out 8
H J Shaw c Sales b Alleyne 2
E Thompson not out 7

Extras b1 lb13 w30 nb7 51
Total 9 wkts Innings Complete (50 overs) 183

Fall: 1-13 2-30 3-40 4-75 5-93 6-107 7-117 8-166 9-175
Bowling: Silverwood 10 0 33 2, Franks 9 0 25 0, Sheriyar 8 3 27 1, Alleyne 9 0 43 3, Trescothick 7 1 17 2, Davies 7 0 24 0.

England A First Innings

M A Gough c McIntosh b Canning 11
M E Trescothick c McGlasan b Canning 29
V S Solanki c Franklyn b Canning 12
A Habib not out 46
M W Alleyne b Jansen 53
D J G Sales not out 2

Extras b10 lb8 w7 nb6 31
Total 4 wkts (39 overs) 184

Fall: 1-42 2-60 3-68 4-176
Did Not Bat: R J Turner, P J Franks, C E W Silverwood, M K Davies, A Sheriyar.

Bowling: Thompson 7 0 40 0, Shaw 7 1 30 0, Franklyn 6 0 23 0, Canning 10 2 19 3, Jansen 5 0 23 1, Marshall 4 0 31 0.