England Lions handed innings defeat by India A

Ben Duckett worked his way to a half-century and Lewis Gregory 44 but Mayank Markande's 5 for 31 helped the hosts to a large margin of victory.

India A have handed England Lions a chastening defeat, beating the tourists by an innings and 68 runs in Mysore.

Ben Duckett worked his way to a half-century and Lewis Gregory 44 but Mayank Markande's 5 for 31 helped the hosts to a large margin of victory.

The first unofficial Test - in Wayanad - was drawn, meaning India take the red-balls series 1-0.

Sam Billings said: “We’re a pretty young, inexperienced group that played some tough cricket against top-class opposition – as they showed in the one-dayers and the four-day cricket. They were thoroughly deserved winners, having outplayed us over the last month. There are a lot of learnings to take away."

“A lot of the guys won’t have played against top quality spin in these conditions; you don’t get exposed to it frequently at all in England, so that’s a huge learning curve. And certainly [Navdeep] Saini showed how to bowl with the reverse-swinging ball, which doesn’t happen as effectively in England.

Andy Flower added:“Any tour of India is a great experience and everyone has thoroughly enjoyed their five weeks here. I think there are a lot of learnings for each individual, and that goes for the players and some of the staff. Getting used to Indian conditions is a big part of touring here.

“The ‘A’ tours are invaluable to providing that bridge between domestic first-class cricket and international cricket.

“It’s tough to replicate a full Test match or one-day international because we don’t get the crowds to these types of games, but what you are getting is very good peer-against-peer competition. It’s the best of the emerging talent from each country going head-to-head against each other so it’s always interesting to see where the nations are at this level.

“That’s the sort of intense competition we’re looking for – we want to replicate as much as possible international matches and I think the programmes between ‘A’ sides are very important for the development opportunities available."