Ahmedabad: Some outstanding batting from England skipper Alastair Cook and terrific counter-attack from wicket-keeper batsman Matt Prior gave England 10 runs lead over India at stumps on day four in the first Test match being played at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad.
Together Cook and Prior had an unbeaten stand of 141 runs as England finished the day at 340/5 after being asked to follow-on. Cook closing in on a double hundred remained unbeaten on 168 and Prior ended the day just 16 runs away from what will be a brilliant hundred.
England started the day at 111/1 with Cook on 74 and Compton on 34. Both the openers started defensively giving respect to the Indian bowlers. Cook who played brilliantly last night looked ever so comfortable on the pitch, Compton on the other end struggled and played and missed quite a lot. Eventually he got out to Zaheer Khan who forced Compton to play around his pads.
Jonathan Trott who was dismissed for a duck in the first innings started well and looked good in the middle, meanwhile, Cook completed a brilliant hundred. Trott got out to a brilliant delivery from Ojha which turned from off-stump kissing the edge of the bat and Dhoni completed the formalities.
Trott’s wicket brought Kevin Pietersen on the crease and he looked panicked in the middle. Pietersen played a horrible shot against Ojha to get bowled for the second time in the match. This time he got bowled round his legs to a premeditated sweep shot. Ian Bell was out first ball in the first innings but this time around he looked focused.
With England losing three quick wickets, Cook and Bell steadied the innings with both players playing their shots whenever the opportunity provided itself. Dhoni played a master stroke bringing Umesh Yadav on to ball and he immediately started getting some reverse swing.
Yadav kept attacking the wickets and he was rewarded when Bell missed an in-swinger when he was on 22, on the very next delivery Samit Patel was adjudged leg before wicket, but the replays showed that the ball was going down the leg side.
England team tottering at 5-199 was staring at an innings defeat when Prior walked in to bat, but both Cook and Prior stuck to their business and got a good partnership going to take England’s score to 264 without any further damage.
Just like yesterday, England had a terrific last session. Both Cook and Prior played with a lot of responsibility and ensured that they kept their team in the game. The pitch got real slow and the Indian spinners struggled even though there were some edgy moments for the English batsmen.
The partnership between Cook and Prior has ensured that there will be some intense competition between the two sides on the final side.
Brief Score:
India: 521/8d
England: 191 & 340/5 (f/o) (Cook 168*, Prior 84, Yadav 2-60)
By Indian Sports News Network