Related Link : India’s Tour of England 2011 : England Players : India Players : Scorecard of 2nd Npower Test at Trent Bridge
India are in trouble of losing the Second Test Match after a disastrous third day’s play at Nottingham in which their bowlers were plundered for as many as 417 runs! England are sitting pretty with a lead of 374 runs with still four wickets in hand thanks to Ian Bell’s maiden Test hundred at the no.3 position. It was a controversial third day’s play that saw Ian Bell getting run out in a bizarre fashion in the last ball before Tea but he walked back to resume his innings after the break with India Skipper MS Dhoni sportingly withdrawing the appeal. The spicy pitch at Trent Bridge turned out to be docile under the sun and the English batsmen made merry smashing the ball freely on the up while the fast outfield produced more than 50 boundaries in the day’s play!
Tale of the Morning Session :
The match was nicely poised when the third day started with England at 24 for 1 in 11 overs. The first punch of the day came from India in the 20th over when Skipper Andrew Strauss (16 from 52 balls) went back and had a tiny poke at a Sreesanth’s short delivery away from his body and was forced to get a feather edge which was caught by the keeper. It was the end of a promising 51-run stand for the 2nd wicket which took England to 57 for 2.
Ian Bell who was practising his drives off half volleys with Graham Gooch’s assistance ahead of play put them into use against the Indian bowling with rich results. He was joined by an attacking Kevin Pietersen who was struck on the heart by an Ishant Sharma’s nasty lifter but that wasn’t going to stop him from playing the full blooded shots. The scoreboard moved ahead taking England into the lead. By Lunch, England got to 130 for 2 in 38 overs with Bell on 84 and KP om 20.
Tale of the Afternoon Session :
The Bell-KP partnership progressed rapidly after the lunch break as the pitch seemed to be easing down into a flat track. The Indian seamers lost their venom and the pressure was hardly sustained on the two batsmen. It was only in the 56th over that India could break this partnership which had already added 162 runs for the 3rd wicket. Once again it was Sreesanth providing the breakthrough, this time with a good length delivery which was swinging away and lured Kevin Pietersen (63 from 120 balls with 7 fours) in a false cover drive to get him caught by the keeper.
England were 219 for 3, a lead of 152 runs when an out of form Eoin Morgan joined Ian Bell who was past his 15th Test century. Morgan was determined this time to get a good score as he was under pressure to justify his place in the side. And finally he got going for the first time in the series to carry England safely towards a better lead.
All was going fine for the Englishmen until the final ball of the session when Ian Bell was given run out by the ground umpires who followed the rules of the game correctly. The incident took place when Morgan’s flick off Ishant went almost all the way to the deep squareleg where Praveen Kumar seemed to have messed up with his sliding stop. The ball had ricocheted off Praveen’s knee towards the boundary but miraculously stopped on its own an inch inside the rope. Both the batsmen assumed that it was a boundary and were at the bowling end meeting each other! MS Dhoni received a throw in the meanwhile and took the bails off while the Umpire never signaled a boundary, didn’t yet declare it as the end of the over and also didn’t yet declare that it’s Tea! So the ball was in play and an appeal from India ended in a bizarre run out of Ian Bell. England at this stage were leading by 187 runs with the score at 254 for 4 in 66 overs.
Tale of the Final Session :
There were plenty of boos in the stadium from the English fans on the Umpires and the Indian players as they reckoned that Bell was given out unfairly. However, all of them ended up applauding the Indian team as Ian Bell walked into the middle along with Morgan and the score was revised to 254 for 3. It was during the break that the English Captain Andrew Strauss and Coach Andy Flower had knocked the door of the Indian dressing room and asked if MS Dhoni would consider withdrawing the run out appeal. Dhoni as a sporting gesture obliged and withdrew the appeal on his own without any interference from the Umpires or the Match Referee.
The match seemed to be slipping away from the Indians as Bell and Morgan continued to make merry. It was only in the 78th over that India got a wicket against the run of play when a quicker arm ball from Yuvraj saw Ian Bell going for a cut shot but only to edge the bouncing delivery onto the pads of MS Dhoni and the ball ricocheted straight to slip for an easy catch. Bell fell for a heroic 159 in just 206 balls with the help of 24 fours to power England to 323 for 4 with the lead at 256.
India’s last roll of the dice was the second new ball and it produced instant results with two quick wickets falling to Praveen Kumar. In the 81st over, the well set Eoin Morgan (70 from 88 balls with 8 fours and a six) was only half forward and was squared up by a delivery which pitched around middle and swung away late in the air to take a fine edge to the keeper. Trott was the mext man in much to the surprise of everybody as he was supposed to be ruled out of the match with a shoulder injury. Batting at no.7, Trott was plumb infront of the stumps to an inswinger from Praveen Kumar but got away with Umpire Mark Erasmus shockingly giving it not out. Jonathan Trott (2) lasted only 10 balls before he got an unplayable delivery from Praveen Kumar whick kicked off the seam along middle to take the glove and fliy straight to first slip. India was back in the game with England at 339 for 6, the lead at 272.
The joy of taking two quick wickets with the second new ball lasted only sometime as the bowling lacked any venon after that. Both Ishant and Sreesanth were too tired and they failed to complement Praveen Kumar. Harbhajan Singh was struggling with a niggle and he hardly bowled though he has been very ordinary off late even with full fitness. MS Dhoni’s men were literally looted by a a counter attacking 7th wicket partnership between Matt Prior and Tim Bresnan which added 102 runs in just 18.2 overs before the close of play. Matt Prior raced away to 64* from 55 balls with 8 fours and a six while Bresnan got to 47* from 66 balls with 9 fours and England finishing at a commanding 441 for 6 in 101 overs. Both Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma conceded more than 100 runs at costly economy rates of more than 4.50! Although the pitch has flattened out, England with a lead of 374 runs and with more to follow have enough time to bowl out India with two full days in store.