samedi 13 août 2011

Cricket-Anderson puts England on brink of massive win

BIRMINGHAM, England, Aug 13 (Reuters) - James Anderson ripped through the top order to reduce India to 116 for six and put England on the verge of a crushing win in the third test on Saturday.
Anderson had figures of four for 35 at lunch as
India's batsmen capitulated for a third consecutive match against England's penetrative attack. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was nine not out and Amit Mishra was on 16 at the interval.
India still needed another 370 runs to make England bat again but more realistically Andrew Strauss's team required another four wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series and climb to the top of the rankings.
With the sun shining at Edgbaston and the pitch slow but encouraging spin, India were presented with good batting conditions but were unable to cope with Anderson from the outset.
They resumed on 35 for one and Anderson had opener Gautam Gambhir (14) caught by Graeme Swann at second slip off the batsman's first ball of the day. That was 35 for two and it became 40 for three when the usually reliable Rahul Dravid (18) edged behind.
Anderson reserved his best delivery of the morning for VVS Laxman (2) as he shaped the ball from middle stump to off and found an edge to the wicketkeeper. That was 56 for four and it was 87 for five when Suresh Raina (10) was lbw to Swann.
World record-breaker Sachin Tendulkar looked at his best for the 95 minutes he occupied the crease, hitting eight boundaries including an elegantly-timed straight drive off Tim Bresnan.
But he was dismissed in the cruellest of fashions when a Dhoni drive was deflected on to the non-striker's stumps by Swann's fingertips. Tendulkar was just out of his ground and the third umpire sealed his fate.
Amongst the rattle of wickets, perhaps the most bizarre sight was wicketkeeper Matt Prior opting to don a helmet and stand up to Anderson as a tactic to prevent Tendulkar from standing outside of his crease. It lasted one ball.
England are also well positioned to register their second-biggest test victory of all time after their first innings of 710 for seven declared in which Alastair Cook plundered a career best 294.

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