Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff [Images] took three wickets each as England [Images] staged a late comeback on the second day of their three-day tour match against an Indian Board President's XI on Friday.

The home team, boosted by Gautam Gambhir's [Images] 108, declared their first innings on 342 for eight, for a lead of 104 runs.

England were 10 for one at stumps. Andrew Strauss [Images] was caught by Suresh Raina at second slip off seamer Munaf Patel [Images] for two. Skipper Marcus Trescothick [Images] (4) and nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard [Images] (4) were the not out batsmen.

Harmison grabbed two quick wickets with the second new ball in the final session after left-hander Suresh Raina was dismissed for a well-made 62 when he gave left-arm spinner Monty Panesar [Images] the charge to be caught by Ian Blackwell at long off.

Harmison had skipper Venugopala Rao (25) caught by Flintoff at first slip driving away from his body and later had test discard Dinesh Karthik [Images] (19) caught by Trescothick in similar fashion.

This was after Flintoff, generating fiery face with the second new ball taken in the 90th over on a placid pitch, had Subramaniam Badrinath playing-on.

England's success came after having toiled hard in humid conditions in the first two sessions when Gambhir, who struck 15 boundaries in his 221-ball effort, put on 64 for the second wicket Dheeraj Jadhav (20) and 86 for the third with Raina, after President's XI resumed at 93-1.

England managed to take only one wicket in each of the first two sessions as the home side reached 187-2 at lunch and 269 for three at tea.

Harmison had Jadhav caught behind by Jones in the morning, and Flintoff induced Gambhir to drive away from his body to be caught by Strauss at backward point.

Paceman Liam Plunkett did not bowl on Friday due to a sore heel.

England were dismissed for 238 in the first innings on the opening day, with the batting highlight provided by Kevin Pietersen [Images], who retired due to a lower-back injury after making 47. Paceman Munaf Patel did most of the damage taking five for 59.

Pietersen did not take the field on Friday.

England captain Michael Vaughan [Images] was rested from the only first-class tour match before the first test in Nagpur from Mar. 1 as a precautionary measure due to the recurrence of a knee problem.

Scorecard

England XI 1st innings 238

Board President's XI 1st innings
W Jaffer lbw b Blackwell 48
G Gambhir c Strauss b Flintoff 108
D Jadhav c GO Jones b Harmison 20
S Raina c Blackwell b Panesar 62
Y Venugopal Rao c Flintoff b Harmison 25
S Badrinath b Flintoff 0
D Karthik c Trescothick b Harmison 19
R Powar not out 23
VRV Singh b Flintoff 13
Extras (b 20, lb 4) 24
Total (8 wickets dec, 103.4 overs, 429 mins) 342

Fall of wickets: 1-93, 2-157, 3-243, 4-274, 5-279, 6-306, 7-313, 8-342

Bowling: Hoggard 22 8 57 0, Harmison 22 5 72 3, Flintoff 21.4 2 74 3, Plunkett 2 0 8 0, Panesar 19 5 46 1, Blackwell 17 1 61 1

England XI 2nd innings
M Trescothick not out 4
A Strauss c Raina b Patel 2
M Hoggard not out 4
Extras 0
Total (1 wicket, 8 overs) 10

Fall of wickets: 1-3

Bowling: Patel 4 3 4 1, Singh 2 0 3 0, Powar 2 0 3 0