England 457 for 3 (Bell 181*,
Pietersen 175) v India To say England dominated at The
Oval doesn't really do their
performance justice. Ian Bell and
Kevin Pietersen, both with their
second hundreds of the series,
combined for a third-wicket stand of 350, England's second
highest third-wicket stand, as
the hosts plundered their way
to 457 for 3 with Bell unbeaten
on 181 to leave India facing a
three-day fight to avoid a whitewash. For the first session there was
actually a contest as England's
openers departed but India's
challenge evaporated after lunch
to such an extent that the
remaining 72 overs brought 331 runs. Bell's 16th Test century
was classical and elegant while
Pietersen thrilled with some of
his strokeplay in his 19th
hundred as the bowlers wilted.
Both batsmen had to earn the right to score freely by battling
through to lunch and ensured
they didn't waste the hard work. It became a head-to-head
between the pair for each of
the milestones. Bell was the first
to his fifty and hundreds, but
Pietersen, who went to his
hundred with a crunching pull off the first ball after tea, reached
150 ahead of his team-mate as
he unleashed his full array of
strokes during the final session
including a switch hit off Amit
Mishra. Bell, though, caught up with consecutive sixes off Mishra
in the final half an hour of the
day and will have a chance of his
maiden Test double on Saturday. Pietersen, who was dropped at
mid-on by Gautam Gambhir the
ball after reaching his hundred,
missed out on the chance of his
second double in the series when
he chipped a return catch to Suresh Raina for 175 shortly
before the close. The
partnership had moved past the
308 of Graham Gooch and Allan
Lamb at Lord's in 1990 and sits
behind the 370 added by Denis Compton and Bill Edrich against
South Africa, again at Lord's, in
1947. It was the latest example of the
hunger among the England
batsmen and if there were any
question marks over a loss of
intensity with the series secured
the ruthlessness of Bell and Pietersen showed how they have
refocused their minds. Again,
though, it has to be said that,
after the morning session, the
bowling was friendly and fielding
even worse. What a false dawn the early
exchanges proved to be. Ishant
Sharma struck with the fifth ball
of the day when Alastair Cook
was caught at first slip and
Andrew Strauss, who added just two to his overnight score from
32 deliveries, edged a loose drive
at Sreesanth to leave England
97 for 2. That was the highpoint
of India's day, and could even
prove the highpoint of their match. Ishant was excellent during his
first spell of 6-3-7-1 but, with
his extensive workload in this
series and in West Indies
beforehand, it was little surprise
he became less effective. RP Singh, meanwhile, just isn't
prepared for Test cricket and
Sreesanth huffed and puffed
without much impact. Mishra was
bowling round the wicket at
Pietersen's pads before tea and was given some harsh
treatment. The work of Bell and Pietersen
was the perfect example of
weathering a tough period and
cashing in later. Bell laid the
ground work following the early
dismissal of Cook and, after his innings at Edgbaston last week
which was a skittish affair, he
was back in full control in the
way he had been at Trent
Bridge during his 159. As in that innings third man was
a favourite area with India
refusing to plug the gap. They
preferred a man at deep point,
but Bell toyed with them as he
slotted boundaries either side of the sweeper. He continued to
churn out the runs with the
efficiency and style he has
shown during a season where his
Test average is well over 100. In
fitting style his hundred came with a sweetly-timed back-foot
drive off Raina having faced 181
deliveries with the second fifty
taking 71 balls. With the early
threat of Ishant nullified it
became an exercise in milking and retaining concentration -
Bell had no problem with either. Pietersen had dominated the
partnership early on, firstly while
the pair consolidated before the
lunch break and then when the
rate increased. The first 10
overs of the afternoon brought 59 runs and Pietersen took the
attack to Mishra. The contest
had started when Pietersen
cracked Mishra's first ball
through the off side and it was
clear he wasn't going to let the legspinner settle. Mishra's lack of
drift allowed Pietersen to target
the leg side and midwicket was a
profitable area. There was a nervous moment
for Pietersen when he was
nearly caught at leg slip, in very
similar fashion to the early
chance during his double hundred
at Lord's, as he flicked Ishant off the last ball before lunch but the
catch didn't quite carry. Unlike at
Lord's there was no
controversy, but it had been a
clever piece of thinking from
Ishant who'd noticed how far across the stumps Pietersen was
moving. However, India's fielding has been
largely shoddy during the series
and there were two examples in
consecutive balls with Pietersen
approaching his hundred. RP
Singh didn't appear fully committed to a catch at long-off
when Pietersen miscued a lofted
drive off Raina, then off the first
ball of the next over, he dived
over a ball at deep backward
square to gift another boundary. Gambhir's later drop added the
list of errors and, to top things
off for India, he was left dazed
after banging his head. The
scoreboard will have left him
dizzy, too.
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