Antigua and Berbuda score 300, India 33 for 1 in reply

St John's, Antigua, May 31 (UNI) Test discard Sylvester Joseph belted an unbeaten century as the Indian seam bowling looked pretty pedestrian against a weak Antigua and Berbuda side which raised 300 runs in their first innings in the two-day warm-up game at the Antigua Recreation Ground here.

In reply, India lost Virender Sehwag's (6) wicket to reach 33 for one with Wasim Jaffar (25) and VVS Laxman (0) in the crease.

Captaining the home side, Joseph made the most of a mostly benign Indian attack and remained not out on 128.

Coming at the fall of the first wicket, he remained circumspect in the major part of his innings. Joseph was prepared to stay calm and rotate strike until he reached his fifty immediately after tea.

Once he achieved that, Joseph played the Indian bowlers all around the park to score his next fifty almost run a ball. He was particularly severe on Romesh Powar and Irfan Pathan who were the only Indian bowlers to return wicketless today.

Joseph hit 15 fours and two sixes in his knock.

The local side featured only three players who have played for West Indies before -- Kerry Jeremy, Adam Sanford and Joseph. But the inexperience did not prove any handicap as they negotiated the toothless Indian attack with aplomb.

Irfan Pathan was off-colour throughout the day. His figures would hardly inspire confidence. S Sreesanth started badly but bowled a good spell in the last session to finish with three wickets.

Munaf Patel also bowled well in patches returning a figure of two for 39.

VRV Singh tasted success later in the day as he clean bowled Skepple to round off the rival innings at 300.

Anil Kumble had a good look at the pitches that would test his ware. As always, Kumble looked quite threatening on the pitch that offered some bounce and carry. Kumble sent Devon Thomas back in the pavilion and ended the day on one for 22. Harbhajan Singh also took one wicket.

But while some of these bowlers got wickets, the local side stretched them hard enough. India allowed both the wicketkeepers to practice -- Mahendra Singh Dhoni kept in the first session while new man in Dinesh Karthik was behind the wickets for the last two sessions.

Antiguan pacers came back to extract enough bounce to rattle the Indian openers.

Though Wasim Jaffer started with a flurry of fours, his partner Virender Sehwag fell when Anthony Martin pulled off a stunning catch.

UNI XC AY KN1047