Twelve wickets fell on the second day of England A's Busta Cup match against Barbados, but the visitors finished with first innings points almost guaranteed, and a victory within their grasp, if they can maintain control over the remaining two days.

On a day marred by more controversy over umpiring decisions, which saw Chris Schofield booed off the field by a partisan Barbados crowd, England A pulled out all the stops in the final 25 overs to take control of the match with three vital wickets under their belt by stumps.

The fourth round Busta Cup match has attracted much interest among local Bajans who gave England A skipper Mark Alleyne, a player they regard almost as one of their own after he grew up on the island, a warm welcome.

British holidaymakers have also shown their support by turning out in sizable numbers to boost crowd figures to around 2,000, the biggest of any England A match on the tour so far.

Their backing was rewarded today when they watched England A bowlers put in a spirited effort on a track that is ideal for batsmen to consolidate their position in the match after 444 runs were accumulated in their first innings.

But they were given a few heart tremors along the way with a clatter of wickets in the morning session and a couple of unnerving moments involving England A batsmen and their reaction to umpiring decisions.

In the fifth over, Ian Ward who had added four runs to his overnight total of 131 was caught behind off the bowling of Corey Collymore. Walking off the field, clearly feeling aggrieved by the decision, he failed to acknowledge the applause that met the conclusion of such a fine effort.

The wicket prompted a middle order collapse as John Crawley, Usman Afzaal, Vikram Solanki then James Foster fell in quick succession to the Barbados pace attack before lunch.

But a seventh wicket partnership between the steady Alleyne and his less orthodox batting partner Schofield proved entertaining with Alleyne gathering runs all round the wicket and Schofield scampering singles and finding the gaps with a quick and intelligent eye.

The 82-run stand came to an end when Schofield edged Ian Bradshaw to the wicketkeeper but when play continued and the players ran two from overthrows without any intervention from the umpires, the appeal for a catch behind was assumed to have been turned down.

Chris Schofield Photo John Dawson

Umpires Halley Moore and Billy Doctrove then consulted and decided the catch was good, a decision that resulted in Schofield running off the field after shaking his helmet angrily at wicketkeeper Courtney Browne.

His reaction was booed by a section of the crowd in the Kensington stand and the batsman departed having made 42. Alleyne followed soon after for 40, caught and bowled by Bradshaw, the Barbados captain.

Match referee Dennis Depaiza later decided that Schofield's behaviour did not warrant any disciplinary action.

England coach Peter Moores said: "It was nothing more than their competitive spirit coming out. The match referee knows that cricket these days is not all nice and friendly so he is not taking any action."

Bradshaw had a disaster on the first day bowling eight no-balls, his four overs going for 44 runs, but on the second morning he found his rhythm and chipped in with three important wickets, capturing Crawley, regarded as a dangerman after his century against Guyana in Grenada, then breaking up the Schofield-Alleyne stand.

Alex Tudor kept the tail wagging with 23 and when Jonathan Lewis went, concluding a 150-over innings, England A were precious few runs short of their 450 target.

The tail was quickly back in action, and after a faltering start they made an early breakthrough having the big-hitting Philo Wallace caught on the square leg boundary before he had got into his stride.

Some lightning reflexes in the field also saw the back of Sean Armstrong when he drove to mid off and confidently set off for a single. But Tudor at mid off threw wide of the stumps and Foster found time to chip the ball into Ward who was on top of the bails.

By the close, they had also seized the wicket of Test batsman Adrian Griffith to reinforce their strong first innings position and at stumps led by 373 runs with seven wickets still to bag before claiming first innings points.

Moores said: "Our performance today was alright. It did not go exactly as we planned though we were had set ourselves a target of 450 and got pretty close.

"We would have liked to have got there more serenely without losing all those wickets and our bowling lacked a bit of discipline when we started out but once they settled, we had them under a lot of pressure and by the close, we were pleased with our position."

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd