Indians rule the day
Sunday, 12 August 2007
England lost Kevin Pietersen shortly before tea and reached the interval at 210-5, still 454 runs behind, on day three of the final Test against India, reports BBC.
Pietersen had shared 78 in 26 overs with Paul Collingwood when he edged Sachin Tendulkar's first ball to slip.
England also struggled shortly before lunch, with Anil Kumble dismissing Alastair Cook (61) and skipper Michael Vaughan (11) in consecutive overs.
Cook had been dropped twice but posted his first half century of the series.
Each of the India seamers quickly found considerable swing on another sunny morning at The Oval.
Their main difficulty was controlling the ball, so sharply was it deviating in the air, and their lines were often awry.
Nightwatchman James Anderson did his job and played some perfectly correct strokes, striking three boundaries in his 16 before he was trapped on the crease after 55 minutes.
Aside from the errant bowling, India's fielding was also occasionally to blame, with Cook given his first reprieve when just 13.
Rahul Dravid had placed a leg slip specifically for the leg glance, and his plan should have worked perfectly but Dinesh Karthik spilled the chance after juggling with the ball.
On 28 Cook offered a much sharper opportunity to Sourav Ganguly, also at leg slip, off Kumble.
Vaughan was given a stern working over early in his innings.
Zaheer Khan tested him with a bouncer the India players thought had brushed the glove on the way to the keeper.
Then next ball he pitched one up that swung in and looped up off the bad to a nearby fielder, but luckily for the England captain no contact was made with the inside edge.
Cook was fortunate again having just passed fifty when Singh appeared to trap him in front but umpire Ian Howell decided it was not out.
Vaughan weathered his sketchy start to play his trademark swivel pull and send the ball whistling into the mid-wicket fence, but lost Cook 10 minutes before lunch.
In between his moments of anxiety Cook had played some elegant strokes but, trying to turn a Kumble delivery to leg, his leading edge spooned up easily to mid-off.
Kumble, the only centurion for India in the series, then struck again when his googly bamboozled Vaughan, who offered the simplest of return catches.
Pietersen played with unusual restraint after lunch, with 17 overs between his first and second boundaries.
But having pulled Singh fiercely through mid-wicket, he quickly added a sumptuous cover drive.
The ball continued to swing sharply, even the bouncers, one short one collected by Mahendra Dhoni in front of first slip.
Ganguly was introduced in a bid to tempt the batsmen outside the off-stump but it turned out to be Tendulkar who made the breakthrough.
He produced a sharp leg-break and Pietersen decided to attack it, his drive skewing off the edge waist high to a gratfeul Dravid.
Collingwood, ideally suited to the rigours of battle, overcame a cautious start to dig in defiantly but will need to occupy the crease for a lot longer if his team are to reach the follow-on target of 465.
Pietersen had shared 78 in 26 overs with Paul Collingwood when he edged Sachin Tendulkar's first ball to slip.
England also struggled shortly before lunch, with Anil Kumble dismissing Alastair Cook (61) and skipper Michael Vaughan (11) in consecutive overs.
Cook had been dropped twice but posted his first half century of the series.
Each of the India seamers quickly found considerable swing on another sunny morning at The Oval.
Their main difficulty was controlling the ball, so sharply was it deviating in the air, and their lines were often awry.
Nightwatchman James Anderson did his job and played some perfectly correct strokes, striking three boundaries in his 16 before he was trapped on the crease after 55 minutes.
Aside from the errant bowling, India's fielding was also occasionally to blame, with Cook given his first reprieve when just 13.
Rahul Dravid had placed a leg slip specifically for the leg glance, and his plan should have worked perfectly but Dinesh Karthik spilled the chance after juggling with the ball.
On 28 Cook offered a much sharper opportunity to Sourav Ganguly, also at leg slip, off Kumble.
Vaughan was given a stern working over early in his innings.
Zaheer Khan tested him with a bouncer the India players thought had brushed the glove on the way to the keeper.
Then next ball he pitched one up that swung in and looped up off the bad to a nearby fielder, but luckily for the England captain no contact was made with the inside edge.
Cook was fortunate again having just passed fifty when Singh appeared to trap him in front but umpire Ian Howell decided it was not out.
Vaughan weathered his sketchy start to play his trademark swivel pull and send the ball whistling into the mid-wicket fence, but lost Cook 10 minutes before lunch.
In between his moments of anxiety Cook had played some elegant strokes but, trying to turn a Kumble delivery to leg, his leading edge spooned up easily to mid-off.
Kumble, the only centurion for India in the series, then struck again when his googly bamboozled Vaughan, who offered the simplest of return catches.
Pietersen played with unusual restraint after lunch, with 17 overs between his first and second boundaries.
But having pulled Singh fiercely through mid-wicket, he quickly added a sumptuous cover drive.
The ball continued to swing sharply, even the bouncers, one short one collected by Mahendra Dhoni in front of first slip.
Ganguly was introduced in a bid to tempt the batsmen outside the off-stump but it turned out to be Tendulkar who made the breakthrough.
He produced a sharp leg-break and Pietersen decided to attack it, his drive skewing off the edge waist high to a gratfeul Dravid.
Collingwood, ideally suited to the rigours of battle, overcame a cautious start to dig in defiantly but will need to occupy the crease for a lot longer if his team are to reach the follow-on target of 465.