LIVE – England v http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 – 4th Test – Play starts with clear skies - Match Update
The fourth day of the final Test match of the four-match series between England and India has started with clear skies at the Kennington Oval, London in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 on Sunday, August 21, 2011.
There has been plenty of rain at the venue since the start of play and a lot of overs have been lost until now. However, there is still a possibility of a result, as the hosts are under complete control of the game.
England have already won the series by winning the first three matches of the series convincingly. The result has lifted the hosts to the number one spot in Test match rankings.
It appears very difficult for the tourists to win this match, as they trail by 488 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the first innings and there are just two days of play left. However, the team can look for a draw in order to survive a whitewash in the series.
After dominating the first three games of the series, England were expected to come hard at the opposition in the final Test as well. They elected to bat first after winning the toss and made most of the good batting conditions at the Oval.
Openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AJ-Strauss-c964 gave a decent start to the innings, collecting 75 runs at the top of the order. Both batsmen failed to convert their starts into big ones, getting dismissed for 34 and 40 respectively.
However, middle-order players http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 took the game away from the opposition with a marathon partnership for the third wicket. The pair amassed 350 runs, gaining terrific momentum in the match.
Pietersen got out after scoring 175 runs whereas Bell managed to score his maiden double-century. He ended up being the top scorer of the innings with 235 runs. England’s innings was declared at 591/6.
Conditions looked completely different once the Indian team walked out to bat. They lost 5 wickets until close of the third day’s play and managed just 103 runs, courtesy a highest score of 57 from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Dravid-c2229.
The tourists seem to be helpless in English conditions and will be hoping for some more rain in order to draw the final Test match.
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