The Tide Turns - Day Three at Trent Bridge

There have been two points in this game when India looked almost certain to square the series: when England were 124-8 on the first day and when India were 267-4 on day two, only for Stuart Broad to intervene. Today, however, the game seems to have gone away from them and they must be looking at a 2-0 deficit.

Much of the talk will be about Ian Bell’s run out, and we will come to that later, but that would detract from what was a day of superb batting from England. India were hampered by Harbhajan’s lack of full fitness and Ishant and Kumar were, by the end of the day, showing signs of fatigue after their efforts at Lord’s, but England made 417 runs in the day, their highest score in one day since the fifties. Not even in their wildest dreams could they have imagined this at the start of the day.

Strauss went early, caught behind, but Bell, fluently, and Pietersen, less so, built a partnership that started to swing the game England’s way. The pitch seemed to have eased but the ball was still swinging and Bell batted beautifully, his balance and timing oozing class, although he was helped by MS Dhoni’s reluctance to post a third man.

Having survived until lunch, which was taken with the score on 130, Pietersen put his foot down in the afternoon, playing some trademark shots before being caught behind off the persevering Sreesanth. There was no let-up for the wilting Indians, though, as Bell continued on his merry way and Morgan took advantage of what Geoffrey Boycott described as benefit match bowling.

The run out incident, which was entirely Ian Bell’s fault, meant that the session ended with a certain amount of farce. The incident has been described in some detail elsewhere, but it should be said that Mukund was perfectly within his rights to remove the bails and India were quite correct to appeal. The TMS commentators were comparing it to the run out that England fashioned when Ryan Sidebottom and Grant Elliott collided, but a much closer recent parallel was the run out of Murali by Brendon McCullum when Murali prematurely walked down the wicket to congratulate Kumar Sangakkara on reaching his hundred. On that occasion the appeal stood, as it would have done here if the tea interval hadn’t intervened. It is interesting that Rahul Dravid, interviewed at the end of the day, spoke of the unanimity of the Indian dressing room and praised MS Dhoni’s leadership, and the Indian team deserve a lot of credit for their attitude throughout.

The evening session looked for a time as though it would go to India. First Bell edged Yuvraj to Laxman, who took a sharp catch after a deflection off Dhoni, and then Morgan and Trott, batting in the unfamiliar position of number seven, succumbed to the new ball and some superb bowling from Kumar. The ball that got Trott was a brute that he would have struggled to play even without an injured shoulder. India scented the chance to bowl England out and set themselves a reasonable target.

Unfortunately for India England bat deep and have the man who is currently the best wicket keeper batsman in test cricket in their side. With the attack tiring and Harbhajan struggling Prior and Bresnan went berserk, adding 102 in just 18.2 overs to finally knock the stuffing out of India. They are 374 runs ahead with four wickets still in hand and will be looking to put the game completely beyond their shell shocked opponents. This game has already had its fair share of twists and turns, but it is hard to see another one.