Tom Haines scored a mammoth century for England Lions on the third day of their four-day fixture against India A in Canterbury today (June 1).
Haines' innings began on day two, as he opened the batting in reply to India A's 557 all-out. Karun Nair scored a landmark double-hundred as part of that innings, while Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel were both out in the 90s.
Having started batting after lunch on day two and lost fellow opener Ben McKinney early on, Haines set about his marathon knock. He reached his 50 after tea and brought up three figures in the same session, getting to the milestone off 138 balls. He finished the day unbeaten alongside Max Holden, who was on 64, the Lions on 237-2.
Both batters continued on next morning with little drama and at a brisk pace. Holden brought up his century off 99 balls, but was dismissed just two deliveries later. That triggered a mini-collapse, with captain James Rew managing just eight before Rehan Ahmed was dismissed for three by Mukesh Kumar, marking three wickets for him in four overs.
Haines continued to pile on the runs, however, and reached his 150 off 232 balls after Lunch. Alongside Warwickshire's Dan Mousley, the pair put on 93 runs for the sixth wicket before Haines finally fell for 171.
1st unofficial Test, England Lions vs India A
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Who is Tom Haines?
Haines marked himself out as a top-order prospect when he shone for Sussex amidst their troubled years in Division Two, scoring over 1,000 runs in the 2021 County Championship and averaging a touch under 50 the following year, in which he also took over the club captaincy. He was called up to the England Lions squad for their tour of Sri Lanka that winter, and scored a century in Galle.
His form dipped in the Championship in 2023, however, and he was replaced as captain by John Simpson for 2024. Haines was a strong part of Sussex's successful campaign for promotion that year, scoring 819 runs which included three centuries.
With Sussex in Division One this year, he started the season strongly with back-to-back centuries in his second and third matches, as well as racking up four half-centuries so far in the first part of the season.
Closing in on the end of day three at Canterbury, Mousley became the third centurion of the Lions' innings, pushing the score above 500 and closing in on parity with India A.
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