Cricket
England world's No 1 Test side
2011-08-13 16:23
Birmingham - James Anderson took four wickets as
England became the world's number one Test side with a crushing innings
and 242 run victory against India at Edgbaston on Saturday.
England's
second successive win inside four days saw them take the third Test in
emphatic fashion and gave them an unbeatable 3-0 lead in this four-match
series.
It also meant they'd won this series by the two-match
margin they needed to replace India at the top of the ICC's Test
Championship table.
It is the first time England have occupied pole position since the table's creation in 2003.
India
were dismissed for 244 in their second innings after man-of-the-match
Alastair Cook's career-best 294 had propelled England to a massive first
innings 710 for seven declared - their highest Test total in 73 years.
Only
Sachin Tendulkar offered any top-order resistance on Saturday with 40
before his latest quest to score an unprecedented 100th international
hundred ended in unlucky fashion when he was run-out backing up.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni finished on 74 not out and shared a stand of 75 with Praveen Kumar for the eighth wicket,
Kumar
made 40, his Test-best score coming in just 18 balls with three sixes
- all against off-spinner Graeme Swann - and five fours.
But the gutsy No 9 was merely delaying the inevitable.
India resumed on 35 for one after losing Virender Sehwag for a 'king pair' to Anderson late on Friday.
Anderson
then struck twice early on Saturday to remove both Gautam Gambhir and
Rahul Dravid for their overnight scores of 14 and 18 respectively.
Dravid, caught behind, seemed uncertain as to whether he'd edged the ball but walked off without reviewing the decision.
New batsman Venkatsai Laxman could only manage two before, pushing tentatively outside off-stump, he too fell to Anderson.
That meant the 29-year-old Lancastrian had taken three wickets for 16 runs in 27 balls to leave India 56 for four.
Laxman's
exit gave Anderson his 237th Test wicket, one more than the late Sir
Alec Bedser, also a fast-medium bowler, as he moved up into seventh
place in England's all-time list.
Suresh Raina was then lbw for 10 as he misread Swann's arm-ball.
Raina
summed up India's mental, as well as physical, tiredness by asking for a
review of his dismissal even though, thanks to Indian objections to
ball-tracking technology, lbw's cannot be referred in this series.
Tendulkar,
who had looked in good touch while striking eight fours, was then
run-out after Dhoni drove at Swann only for the bowler to deflect the
ball onto the non-striker's stumps with the 'Little Master' just shy of
his ground.
India reached lunch on 116 for six, having lost five wickets for 81 runs during Saturday's morning session.
And
that became 130 for seven when Amit Mishra was well caught by a leaping
Stuart Broad at mid-off following a drive against Swann.
Kumar --
primarily a medium-pacer and one of the few India players to show much
fight with either bat or ball this series - was eventually out when he
top-edged a pull off seamer Broad and was caught by Ravi Bopara.
Tim
Bresnan then ensured an India side boasting one of the world's
strongest top-orders, who've yet to make 300 this series, were bowled
out inside 56 overs when he dismissed last man Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.
The fourth and final Test at The Oval starts on Thursday.