St. John's: India dismissed Antigua and Barbuda for 300 in 72.2 overs — a score made possible thanks to skipper Sylvester Joseph's unbeaten 128 — on day one of its two-day practice game here at the Police Recreation ground on Tuesday. In response, India lost Virender Sehwag (6) to finish at 33 for one from ten overs.

The sides agreed to give their entire squad a go — though only eleven could be on the field at a time, and only eleven could bat, both teams arranged to let all their specialist batsmen bat and all their specialist bowlers bowl.

On a ground that resembled a saucepan with undulation, Joseph — nicknamed `Bouncing' — did everything right from the call at the toss to the pacing of his innings. Walking in with the score at 39 for one, the 27-year-old batted 14 minutes over four hours and hit 15 fours and two sixes.

After tea, Joseph exploded, moving from 44 to 128 in just 62 balls. His last-wicket partnership with Kerry Skepple yielded 42 from 4.3 overs — a rate worthy of a one-dayer. The Indian bowlers — but for Pathan, who was poor, and Powar, who was inadequate — did well in patches.

Munaf looks good

The best visiting side non-slow bowler on view was Munaf Patel. The strapping quick from Gujarat bowled a fuller length than usual, getting opener Michael Challenger caught behind by Dhoni in the 15th over after Pathan and Sreesanth had failed to break through. He finished with figures of two 39 from 11.

Sreesanth displayed considerable stamina as he ran in all day and bowled the most overs (15). He extracted lift early, and concentrated on bowling yorkers to the tail-enders, hitting the stumps twice and the leg once.

Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh picked a wicket apiece — the former through a magnificent bit of leg-spin bowling after lunch. Two ripped leg-breaks were followed by a skidding top-spinner.

Pathan was treated with little respect; the left-armer struggled with his length and was tonked to all parts. His figures of one for 70 off 12 overs reflected that. Powar took one wicket, but it cost him 50 in six overs.

The scores: Antigua and Barbuda 300 in 72.2 overs (Sylvester Joseph 128 n.o., Greg Skepple 35, Daniel Thomas 30, S. Sreesanth three for 46) vs. India 33 for one in ten overs (Wasim Jaffer 25 batting).

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