CRICKET:THE SERIES is England's. That much is certain even at this early stage of the game, as their batsmen dominated the second day of the third Test just as the bowlers had created their mayhem on the first.
For India, who whatever happens in the final match will no longer stand alone at the top of the tree, this was humiliation in front of the English crowd that above all others revels in such a spectacle. Only three wickets fell while 372 runs were added, 299 of them in 68 overs after lunch so that, at 456 for three, England already lead by 232.
Alastair Cook, with an unbeaten 182, his 19th Test hundred, Andrew Strauss (87), and Kevin Pietersen (63) piled on the runs and India wilted. Their bowling, with the exception of that of the indefatigable Praveen Kumar, gave dross a bad name and their fielding was a fumbling embarrassment in this age of athleticism and fitness.
Chances were few. Three of them, none difficult, were spurned with a certain inevitability, two of them to the reliable Rahul Dravid, the second in the day’s final over when Eoin Morgan (44 not out) edged Sachin Tendulkar to slip. That Tendulkar was able to turn his off-break sharply at the day’s end is further concern for India.
Amit Mishra, meanwhile, managed to deliver no fewer than eight no-balls, which is unforgivable for a seamer, never mind a leg-spinner off a couple of paces. Had Simon Taufel spotted the one which bowled Strauss round his legs when within sight of a hundred, it would have been nine and the cherry on the cake.
India were a shambles, an expensive imitation of the team heralded as the best there is. Their batsmen have the capability to bat out the match when eventually they are given the chance but, unless they find some further unexpected incisiveness with the ball, that will not come until much later today: time, if not necessarily the weather, is very much on Strauss’s side and he will not prove a generous fellow.
On a pitch that lacks the pace of those at Lord’s and Trent Bridge, Cook was no less relentless than he had been throughout the winter. The tribulations of the first two matches, in which opening was a hazardous business, were a thing of the past. He is utterly unflappable, an immovable object.
By the time Strauss was out, to his dismay, he and Cook had added 186 for the first wicket, their 11th century opening stand together and first since St Stephen’s Day in Melbourne, to take England within 38 of India’s total.
Strauss needed this hundred and played well enough to warrant it. His first 18 Test hundreds evolved from 43 times past 50. But in 39 innings since his hundred against Australia at Lord’s two years ago, he has gone beyond 50 a dozen times and converted only one.
Guardian Service
