Compton, Trott shine in India tour match

Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott warmed up for England's first Test against India next week with unbeaten half-centuries in the the final warm-up game on Saturday. Compton hit 54 not out and Trott was unbeaten on 61 as the tourists reached 118 for no loss in their second innings by stumps on the third day of the four-day match against Haryana in Ahmedabad. England, who bowled out Haryana for 333 in reply to their own 521, start the final day's play on Sunday with an overall lead of 306, well-placed to force an outright win. Compton, grandson of former England batsman Denis Compton, is almost certain to make his debut in the first Test in Ahmedabad, which starts on Thursday, after notching up a third successive half-century. South Africa-born Compton scored an unbeaten 64 in the last match against Mumbai 'A' and 74 in the first innings here. Earlier, seamers Tim Bresnan and Stuart Meaker claimed three wickets each after Haryana resumed at their overnight score of 172-4. Opener Rahul Dewan defied the tourists for the entire innings to return unbeaten on 144. Brief scores: England 1st innings: 521 (Alastair Cook 97, Nick Compton 74, Kevin Pietersen 110 retired out, Ian Bell 62, Samit Patel 67, Matt Prior 41, Amit Mishra 4-67, Jayant Yadav 4-110) Haryana 1st innings: 333 (Rahul Dewan 144 not out, Sunny Singh 55, Chanderpal Saini 35, Tim Bresnan 3-67, Stuart Meaker 3-72, Monty Panesar 1-54, Samit Patel 2-38) England 2nd innings: 118-0 (Nick Compton 54 not out, Jonathan Trott 61 not out). England lead by 306 runs