CricketArchive

5th Test, Day 1: England take early control of final Test
by Andy Jalil


Scorecard:England v India
Event:India in England 2014

DateLine: 16th August 2014

 

By Andy Jalil at Kia Oval In association with INVESTEC

 


Andy Jalil - Cricket Writer and Commentator
Andy Jalil at Kia Oval
In association with INVESTEC
cricketarchive.com, pcboard.com.pk
© Andy Jalil

 

London – India batsmen’s vulnerability against the swinging ball was once again exposed, as it has so often in this series, with them making yet another poor start after being sent in to bat. The exception was MS Dhoni who gallantly played a captain’s innings of 82, defying the England attack over three-and-a half hours and taking his side to 148, their lowest total of the series. At stumps, England in reply were 62 without loss with Alastair Cook 24 not out and Sam Robson unbeaten in 33.

 

After early rain had delayed the start by half-an-hour, India batsmen struggled against all four pace bowlers who made good use of cloud cover. For India the first session of play proved to be even worse than in the previous Test when they lost four wickets; this time it was five down for 36.

 

Applying relentless pressure throughout the innings, England bowlers gave the tourists little opportunity for recovery. Alastair Cook made frequent bowling changes, rotating his pace men and unsettling the batsmen. He didn’t even feel the need to bring on his off spinner Moeen Ali – except for one over, the last one before tea – who had done the damage to India’s second innings in a marvellous of four for 39 in the three-day innings defeat in the previous Test.

 

The fall of wickets began as early as the fourth ball of the match when Gautam Gambhir who scored only 4 and 18 in the last Test after being omitted from the first three Tests, seemed to be in two minds about playing at a ball that swung away late taking the outside edge for a catch behind. Cheteshwar Pujara went in the sixth over with his bat coming down late at a ball from Stuart Broad which went between bat and pad to crash into the stumps.

 

It kept getting worse for India with the third and fourth wickets falling in a space of two runs. Virat Kohli’s dreadful run continued and on 6, he played no shot to a ball on the off stump from Chris Jordan to be given out lbw. The bowler then took a good return catch from Ajinkya Rahane and India were 28 for four.

 

Opening batsman Murali Vijay, regarded as the steadiest of the India batsmen, held on for an-hour-and-a-half for 18, facing 64 balls when he edged to gully for Joe Root to hold the catch diving forward. That was six overs before lunch which was taken on 43 for five. The fall of wickets continued into the second session and with just one run added to the lunch score Stuart Binny, on 5, received an outswinger from Anderson which he edged into the hands of Cook at first slip.

 

Ravichandaran Ashwin, who had showed his capability with the bat in the last Test with scores of 40 and 46 not out at Old Trafford, could only manage 13 before Root, at gully, took his second catch of the innings. It was low and had to be looked at by the third umpire before being given out. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, on 5, chased a long hop, from Jordan to the wicketkeeper and Jordan at that stage had excellent figures of three for 7 in 6.1 overs.

 

After the ninth wicket fell on 90 with Woakes taking a return catch from Varun Aaron for his third victim, India had their highest stand of the innings with Dhoni and Ishant Sharma adding 58 of which Dhoni had 46 before he pulled Broad into the hands of long leg having faced 140 balls and hitting 15 fours and a six.

 

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2014 Andy Jalil)

LATEST SCORES

| Privacy Policy | FAQs | Contact |
Copyright © 2003-2024 CricketArchive