India v England – England tour of India (1st Test) – Match Update [Day 4] – Cook, Prior hold firm to take England to 264 for 5 by tea
Much like England’s first innings during their ongoing Test against India at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, skipper Alastair Cook and Matt Prior continued to remain the most prominent batsmen in the Poms’ batting order – however, the second
time around they managed to apply themselves at the crease for longer, and got the tourists up to 264 for 5 by tea on the fourth day, today on November 18.
The second day of play had seen India declaring at a gargantuan first innings total of 521. England’s pace attack had proved largely ineffective on the turning track at the Sardar http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Huzefa-Mohammed-Patel-c63657 Stadium, while the majority of the wickets had been claimed by off-spinner
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501.
Faced with the task of having to beat the massive total posted by the host team, and the prospect of tackling http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s spin attack, the English batsmen appeared to crumble under the pressure, and found themselves all out at a feeble first innings total of
191. Only skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/PP-Ojha-c2198 (22.2-8-45-5).
However, with England asked to follow on, the second innings saw Cook taking up the responsibility for enabling the team to put up a fight. Opening for his side, the skipper led from the front and put http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 well on their way to catching up with the host
team.
Nick Compton opened with Cook, and their partnership yielded 123 runs, after which Compton was trapped lbw by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IJL-Trott-c1576, but he only managed a 17-run contribution before Ojha took him out
of the game, and followed it up by sending http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 (2) back to the pavilion after a meagre contribution.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Samit-Patel-c2426 (0) lbw. Cook (138*), however, held firm, and aided by Prior
(40*), got the team up to 264 for 5 by tea, trailing by 66 runs.
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