| You are in: Cricket: England |
| India still in the hunt ![]() Cork hit a half-century batting at seven Final Test, The Oval, day two of five (stumps): India 66-1 v England 515 all out The deciding fourth Test remains in the balance after India bowled England out for 515 and then reached 66 for one on the second day at The Oval. Harbhajan Singh finished with his ninth five-wicket haul in Tests as England's middle order collapsed. And it was left to the tailenders to gain a total the home side deserved after dominating the first day. Dominic Cork showed his worth as a Test all-rounder with 52 and Ashley Giles 31 as England recovered from the loss of five wickets around the lunch interval.
But Rahul Dravid steadied the ship, making 31 of an unbroken stand of 48 with novice opener Sanjay Bangar. India were 449 in arrears at stumps, and still 250 away from avoiding the follow-on, but in far better cheer than when England resumed the day 336 for two. Just short For the second time this series, Michael Vaughan fell just short of a double-century, edging a Zaheer Khan out-swinger to the wicket-keeper having added 13 to his overnight 182. After his 197 in the second Test at Trent Bridge became the fourth batsman, after Everton Weekes, Ian Chappell and Mohammad Azharuddin, to have been dismissed twice in the 190s in Tests. Overall the Yorkshireman's innings lasted 379 minutes and 279 balls, with 29 fours. Sanjay Bangar took two wickets during the morning, John Crawley lbw having adding just 10 to his overnight 16 and Nasser Hussain was caught at second slip for 10.
The spinner's third delivery was turned for four but his fourth saw Stewart gain a thin edge to the wicket-keeper. Alex Tudor followed soon after, edging a Harbhajan top-spinner to Rahul Dravid at first slip. But Cork, called up to replace injured allrounder Andrew Flintoff, led the way for much of the afternoon session, helping Alec Stewart add 62 for the sixth wicket. On reaching his third Test half-century from 99 balls, he held up seven fingers to the England dressing-room, a mirror of his captain's defiant gesture during the one-day series final. He was out soon afterwards, lbw struck on the front foot by a quicker ball from Harbhajan. But there was more to come as Giles and Andrew Caddick managed 37 more for the ninth wicket, Caddick finishing unbeaten on 14. The wicket of last man Matthew Hoggard, lbw first ball, saw Harbhajan finish with figures of five for 115 off 38.4 overs. |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | ||
------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> | BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |