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England Pile On Runs On 2nd Day
England v India, 3rd Investec Test, Ageas Bowl, 2nd day
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| Debutant Jos Buttler launching an assault on the Indian Bowlers. |
England declared on 569/7 & then Anderson got Dhawan out early as India ended the day on 25/1 in 14 overs.
The Three Lions were led in by their centurions, Ballance and Bell, with Cook following behind after a hard day's work.
Led by Captain Cook's 95, England scored 569 runs for 7 wickets in the 1st innings of the 3rd Test. B Kumar was the most successful bowler for India, scalping 3 wickets. Buttler scored a quick-fire 85 in the end. At one stage of the innings he 2 back-to-back sixes off Pankaj Singh and then scored a boundary to gather 21 runs from the 163rd over.
Earlier, Ian Bell & Gary Ballance were near-perfect for England, they seldom missed, rarely edged & looked completely dominating as they raised the run-rate in the first session. It looked like a perfect day for batting. Ian Bell never looked like a man who has been out of form for a long time and hasn't scored a test.
MS Dhoni changed the bowling 15 times in as many overs in order to extract something from the Indian Attack. B Kumar, who has constantly been India's go-to man, couldn't do much himself. Shami continued his undisciplined bowling & Pankaj Singh lost his steam after bowling impressively at the start of both days.
England declaration meant that Indian openers had 14 overs to survive but it was a huge task cut out the way Broad & Anderson squared them up time and again. Both of them were swinging the ball at high speed consistently.
While M Vijay fended off most of them well enough, it was Dhawan who edged one to Alastair Cook at 1st slip after Anderson attack him from round the stumps. Poor Dhawan couldn't be blamed entirely for the dismissal such was the quality of the England Attack that it looked impossible stay for those 14 overs.
In the end Vijay & Pujara guided India to 25/1 on stumps without any further loss.
In the end Vijay & Pujara guided India to 25/1 on stumps without any further loss.
Cook and Ballance amongst Runs as England Dominate India
England v India, 3rd Investec Test, Ageas Bowl, Southampton, 1st day
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Southampton:Alastair Cook fell justagonisingly short of ending his dismal spell without a Test century as he led from the front against India at Southampton on Sunday.
The England Captain won the toss & then made 95 out of England's 247/2 at stumps on the first day of the 3rd Test.
Gary Ballance, who with his captain put on 158 for the 2nd wicket, then reached three figures to be 104 not out at stumps along with Bell who was 16 not out.
Ballance has now smashed 3 hundreds & 2 fifties in his first 6 Tests.
The Indian Attack missed Ishant who was unfit for the game.
The first-wicket partnership of 55 was ended when Mohammed Shami squared up the Australia-born & Jadeja held the catch in the slips.
2 cut shots off spinners Rohit Sharma, playing in place of Stuart Binny, and Jadeja helped Cook to 48 not out at lunch.
He completed a 98-ball fifty as the crowd signalled its support with a standing ovation.
At tea, England were 186/1, with Cook 82 not out and Ballance 72 not out.
Alastair Cook's 5-hour innings ended when he got a bottom edge, while swiping at a long hop from left-arm spinner Jadeja, & was caught down the legside by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni.
Umpire Marais Erasmus took his time before giving him out, but replays confirmed that he was correct.
As he walked back, Cook received another standing ovation, having faced 231 balls including 9 boundaries en route to his gritty 95.
England now were 213/2, hey were fortunate when Bell survived an LBW appeal from Pankaj Singh after the bowler's excellent outswinging delivery wrapped him on the pads.
However, Singh deserved better than his figures of 0/62 in 20 overs but his was just one of several economical contributions as Indian bowlers kept England's run-rate below 3 per over .
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India on Brink of Historic Win
England v India, 2nd Investec Test, Lord's, 4th day
London India were on the verge of their 2nd Test win at Lord's, the 1st one being in 1986, as Alastair Cook's latest batting failure fumed the debate about his future as England captain.
England were 105 for four at stumps on Sunday's fourth day, needing a further 214 runs to reach their victory target of 319.
Joe Root was not out on 14 & Moeen Ali on 15 at stumps, after England lost 3 wickets for just 2 runs from 70/1 to 72/4.
Captain Cook fell for 22 off 93 to make it 27 innings since scoring the last of his England record 25 hundreds.
His departure came shortly after Ian Bell, the most experienced batsman in England's top order, had been dismissed for 1, his 19th innings without a Test hundred.
Fast bowler Ishant Sharma removed both Bell & Cook no runs in 7 balls.
At lunch, India were 267/7, a lead of 243.
But the 10 overs post lunch saw Jadeja and seamer B Kumar score 66 runs.
Jadeja made a rollicking 68 while Kumar was last man out for 52, his 3rd fifty in 4 innings this series after his best bowling figures of 6/82 in England's 1st innings.
