Filed under: Cricket, England Cricket, Tests, India Cricket
Second Test Day Three (close): First Innings: England 221 all out (Stuart Broad 64, Praveen Kumar 3-45, Ishant Kumar 3-66, Sreesanth 3-77) India 288 all out. (Rahul Dravid 117, Yuvraj Singh 62, VVS Laxman 54, Broad 6-46) Second Innings: England 441-6 (Ian Bell 159, Eoin Morgan 70, Matthew Prior 64, Kevin Pietersen 63). England lead by 374 runs.A stunning century from Ian Bell put England well in command as they strengthened their bid to replace India at the head of the world rankings.
But the in-form Warwickshire batsmen was thankful to a wonderful piece of sportsmanship from the tourists, when he was recalled after being run out in bizarre circumstances on another memorable day in what is developing into an enthralling Test series.
Bell held England together as they racked-up over 400 runs in the day. He had put together a priceless 137 when controversy struck, given out from the final delivery of the afternoon session in a classic 'what happened next?' moment.
The England centurion carelessly walked off after wrongly assuming the ball had reached the boundary when in fact it hadn't - crucially, the umpires had not signalled four or called 'over' - India's appeal proving successful as the bails were taken off from the ensuing return throw.
The players left the field for tea with the tourists and umpires singled out for abuse from disgruntled England supporters as the atmosphere threatened to turn sour given the nature of Bell's dismissal.
During the interval, England captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower approached India skipper MS Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher, asking them to withdraw appeal. It was a plea, to their eternal credit, they were prepared to accommodate. Bell, and the sporting tourists, returned to a hero's welcome from the stands at the resumption of play.
England v India Day Three Scorecard
In front of another Trent Bridge full house, England resumed at a potentially perilous 24-1, still 43 in arrears in this wildly fluctuating Test. Strauss soon endured his latest failure, departing for just 16 as he was caught behind with the hosts still to get their noses in front.
India failed to capitalise on the early scalp, and against some increasingly lacklustre bowling, Bell added a crucial 162 for the third wicket with Kevin Pietersen to shift the momentum England's way. It was to be an advantage they would not relinquish.
Not for the first time, Pietersen tossed his wicket away when well set with an unconvincing drive to be caught behind for a relatively circumspect 63 from 120 deliveries with a modest seven boundaries, Sreesanth again the bowler. It proved to be only a minor set-back on a day of dominance for the hosts.
Promoted back up to number three due to Jonathan Trott's shoulder injury, Bell steadily advanced from his overnight total of nine, reaching 150 from 196 deliveries, littered with 23 boundaries.
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