5th Test, Day 3: England inflict heavy defeat on India and take the series 3-1 by Andy Jalil

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Scorecard:	England v India
Event:	India in England 2014

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DateLine: 17th August 2014

 

By Andy Jalil at Kia Oval In association with INVESTEC

 

Andy Jalil at Kia Oval In association with INVESTEC cricketarchive.com, pcboard.com.pk © Andy Jalil

 

London – A thoroughly dispirited and demoralised India handed England a comfortable final Test victory by an innings and 244 runs within just three days and with it the series 3-1. In yet another abject batting performance India were skittled out for a paltry 94, their lowest total in the series. After India clinched the second Test a month ago the series became totally one sided with India’s performance, particularly with the bat deteriorating as the series progressed.

 

Having conceded a colossal first innings deficit 338, with England’s man-of-the-match Joe Root scoring an magnificent unbeaten 149 from only 165 balls, India could offer no resistance facing a fine England pace attack in which Chris Jordan claimed 4 for 18 from 4.2 overs.

 

The story of India’s response to such a daunting lead by the opposition is short. None of the batsmen seemed capable to battle it out as the entire innings folded in under two-and-a-half hours with India suffering their third heaviest Test defeat. They began their second innings 40 minutes before lunch and lost both opening batsmen in just six overs with nine runs on the board. From that set-back there was no recovery.

 

The next three wickets fell within 16 runs and finally the lower half of the batting order surrendered in a space of 32 runs. James Anderson’s excellent bowling throughout the series gave him the man-of-the series award for England while pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar received it for India.

 

India captain MS Dhoni said: “In the last two matches we were not really up to the mark. We never really competed and also today’s batting was a reflection of our batting order that has lost a lot of confidence over a period of time. But the youngsters would have learnt things, not many have played over here when it comes to Test cricket. It was a very important tour for them and hopefully when they come back here in the coming years they’ll perform much better.”

 

Earlier England, after resuming their first innings on 385 for seven, went on a run spree hitting 101 from just 11.3 overs. Joe Root and Chris Jordan, on 92 and 19 respectively had added 16 taking their eighth wicket stand to 83 when India struck in the third over. Jordan edged a ball from Ishant Sharma which straightened after pitching just outside off stump.

 

Meanwhile Root, had completed his fifth Test century from 135 balls. He was joined by Stuart Broad who raced to 21 from just eight balls and in the process took three fours in one over from Varun Aaron who in the previous Test had caused Broad’s nasty injury of a broken nose when Broad missed the ball in attempting to pull a rising ball.

 

Broad, showing no apprehension in facing the pace bowlers, continued with his hard-hitting and brought up the fifty of the stand from 31 balls with 35 being Broad’s contribution from 15 balls. He added two more runs before edging Sharma for a catch and the 63-run stand had come from 41 balls. Root had meanwhile moved on to 127 and he continued with his aggressive strokes as well as excellent running between the wickets.

 

With the tenth wicket stand adding 23, England’s last three wickets had put on 169 with the bowling getting quite wayward allowing the lower order and Root to pile on the runs until the last wicket fell on 486 just under an hour before lunch.

 

A delighted England captain Alastair Cook said: "Before Southampton we played cricket in patches, but in the last three games we maintained the pressure on India and that made a big difference. All our guys did a great job, it’s credit to them.

 

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