BBC SPORT | Cricket | England



By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent at The Oval

Neither team has shown the desire or the adventure to win this match which appears to be drifting inexorably towards stalemate.

England are more guilty than India in this regard because they have a total of 515 on the board.

Frankly, their tactics this afternoon were utterly tedious.

Bowling as Cork did today was an admission that he is not capable of getting anyone out

Why they felt the need to bowl deliberately wide of the batsmen is beyond me.

With a lead of 230, a new batsman in Laxman at the crease and the new ball available, England preferred to 'hide' the ball from the Indians instead of attempting to bowl them out and win the series.

There is absolutely no way the Australians would have played like this, and that is the team everyone else must attempt to emulate.

You do not win many matches by opting out: by leaving it to the opposition to make all the running, and hoping to pick up the scraps as they lose patience.

Ganguly hugs Dravid
Dravid's century was overshadowed by England's tactics
What the crowd made of it, one can only guess. Boos and catcalls rang out across The Oval as the players walked off for bad light and the unsatisfactory day came to an end.

Hopefully they will return next year, but I would not mind betting that many of them will never set foot inside a Test ground again.

India had all but achieved their objective, which was to save the follow-on.

Dravid's innings of 131 not out was another masterpiece, and it is a shame that it was rather overshadowed by the subdued atmosphere that descended over The Oval.

This was the time that Cork decided the best plan of attack was to bowl over after over of bouncers.

In the end he snared Ganguly, who gloved an attempted hook stroke down the leg side for 51.

But if Cork's extraordinary celebration was some way of proving a point to those who questioned his selection, it failed.

Dominic Cork celebrates Ganguly's wicket
Cork's wicket celebration was extraordinary
Had Cork run in, swung the ball and picked up a couple of wickets in the slip cordon, he might have made the selectors seriously think about including him in the Australian party.

Bowling as he did today was merely an admission that he is not capable of getting anyone out.

Tendulkar will also reflect on the day with disappointment.

Having passed a half century, he looked a cast-iron certainty to become the fifth player to score a century in his 100th Test.

Instead he fell lbw to Caddick for 54, rather curiously missing a low full toss.