— PHOTO: S. Subramanium

LIVELY SPELL: England speedster James Anderson came up with a superb performance to contain the Indians in the first innings of the third Test in Mumbai.

Mumbai: A forgotten fast bowler and a suspect wicketkeeper twisted the thumbscrews to ensure England's vice-like grip on the third Test tightened further. A first innings lead of 121 was obtained, and shakily augmented to 152 by close on the third day.

The tourists still have eight wickets to swell their lead. The Indians will have to bat out of their skins second time around — the highest fourth innings score here at the Wankhede is 266, and the West Indies still lost that match in 1994-95.

The track has played well thus far, offering bounce, turn and even cut with the new ball. Though it started to dust up towards the end, by no stretch of imagination is it impossible to bat on — India's now steely tail showed as much. The deterioration of the pitch is but one factor; the pressure of batting last, whether stonewalling for a draw or charging for glory does strange things to the mind. Two days fraught with tension yet full of potential lie in store.

Superb display

On Monday, James Anderson — one-time possessor of an electric-blue mop of hair — scalped three Indian batsmen (Dravid among them) to add to Sunday's prize head of Tendulkar. He also hit the one stump he could see from mid-wicket to rid his side of Dhoni. Glove-man Geraint Jones, who has attracted comment of a derisive nature not without reason, turned on a fine display of athleticism, hurtling himself hither and thither to end with five catches.

India needed at least one batsman to play a monumental knock, the kind that either sucks up time or eats up runs. Rahul Dravid and M. S. Dhoni made half-centuries but neither could kick on. After Yuvraj Singh edged a wide 12th ball of the day for Jones to make his first foray in front of first slip, the India skipper froze into an unyielding monolith. The elaborate defence, the decisive leave, the skilful drop of wrists to evade the short, climbing ball were combined as he went to his 42nd fifty.

But, having kept out deliveries far more threatening, he feathered an innocuous one down the leg-side for Jones to dive across. Five for 142, and England was within sniffing distance of a big lead. More crucially, it had removed the one batsman who could have taken India to safety. But, Dhoni — struck behind his head when he ducked into a bouncer — buckled down. The wicketkeeper from Jharkhand had put on 48 with his skipper. He now turned to Irfan Pathan for support. Dropped by Panesar when on 23, Dhoni largely denied himself — the odd lunging slap straight was thus only to be expected. Flintoff gave his seamers short spells, switching them around on a scalding day, and using his spinners in tandem to both control the game's pace and give the quicks breathers.

Pathan, who had played with patience, had a sudden rush of blood and chipped Udal to long-on, who had been brought in 10 yards. It was the first of two silly pieces of cricket. Dhoni, having compiled his second half-century (64, 118b, 10x4), set off after hitting it straight to mid-wicket. He might still have made it had he not veered off course and deviated from the straight line — the shortest distance between two points.

Unpardonable

There was some uncertainty as to whether Dhoni had slid his bat in before the bails were dislodged for it took a while between ball to strike stump, and bail to rise off groove, but the running was unpardonable. Anil Kumble and Sreesanth batted admirably, the latter getting behind the line with conviction. They put on 55 in 15.2 overs — runs that may prove crucial.

Late in the day, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth, in their second match each, bowled with brio and skill to send back England's openers. Then the bowler from Kerala — who worked up decent pace, landed it in the right regions, and got subtle deviation off the seam — induced an edge from night-watchman Shaun Udal. Yuvraj Singh, hopelessly off balance at third slip fluffed it.

India's only hope lies in winkling England out cheaply, and it's paramount every chance is taken to build momentum and get the crowd involved; it will be interesting to see how long England bat on and how much time it deems sufficient to bowl India out.

Big screen blank out

The remainder of the Test here will not be shown on the giant screens within the stadium, said Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, executive secretary-in-charge, BCCI.

The screens, which had been showing live action and replays, will now display only the scoreboard. This is a fallout of the incident involving Dhoni's dismissal.

The batsman left the ground after seeing the decision on one of the screens and not the lights controlled by the third umpire. Interestingly, the ICC Test playing conditions allow for the use of the big screen to convey the decisions of the third umpire (3.2.2 c).

On the first two days, close leg-before appeals replete with Hawk Eye's verdict had been shown; big screens in other grounds refrain from showing controversial replays.

Harmison out of ODIs

England fast bowler Stephen Harmison has been ruled out of the upcoming seven-match ODI series against India and arrangements are being made for him to return home to the U.K., according to an ECB press release.

Harmison, who suffered a bone stress injury in his right shin and consequently missed the third Test, has been replaced in the ODI squad by Matthew Hoggard.

SCOREBOARD

England — 1st innings: 400.

India — 1st innings: W. Jaffer c Jones b Hoggard 11, V. Sehwag c Shah b Hoggard 6, R. Dravid c Jones b Anderson 52, S. Tendulkar c Jones b Anderson 1, Y. Singh c Jones b Flintoff 37, M. S. Dhoni (run out) 64, I. Pathan c Hoggard b Udal 26, A. Kumble lbw b Panesar 30, H. Singh c Jones b Anderson 2, S. Sreesanth (not out) 29, M. Patel b Anderson 7; Extras (b-4, lb-7, nb-3): 14; Total (in 104.1 overs) 279.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-24, 3-28, 4-94, 5-142, 6-186, 7-212, 8-217, 9-272.

England bowling: Hoggard 22-6-54-2, Flintoff 21-4-68-1, Anderson 19.1-8-40-4, Panesar 26-7-53-1, Udal 16-2-53-1.

England — 2nd innings: A. Strauss c Dhoni b Munaf 4, I. Bell c Dhoni b Sreesanth 8, O. Shah (batting) 15, S. Udal (batting) 2; Extras (nb-1, w-1): 2; Total (for two wkts. in 15 overs) 31.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-21.

India bowling: Pathan 4-1-6-0, Munaf 4-0-12-1, Sreesanth 4-1-10-1, Kumble 2-0-3-0, Harbhajan 1-1-0-0.

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