England captured two wickets in the space of eight balls shortly before lunch on the final day of the first Test against India at Lord’s yesterday to move closer to victory in the 2,000th Test.
At the interval India, the world No. 1 side who need a world record 458 to win the first match in the four-Test series, were 142 for four.
Sachin Tendulkar, who received a standing ovation in what is likely to be his final Test at Lord’s, was 7 not out at lunch.
Photo: AFP
Tendulkar, 38, needs one more century to reach an unprecedented 100th international hundreds. He was absent from the field for most of Sunday with a virus infection and batted one place lower than usual at No. 5.
James Anderson removed the adhesive Rahul Dravid (36) and the prolific Vangipurappu Laxman (56) after India had resumed their second innings on 80 for one. Graeme Swann captured the other wicket to fall, dismissing Gautam Gambhir leg before wicket for 22.
Dravid, who batted for five-and-a-half hours in his unbeaten 103 in India’s first innings, was caught behind by Matt Prior pushing at a delivery which moved away from the right-hander.
He had been dropped on 35 by Ian Bell off Chris Tremlett after a thick inside-edge on to his pad ballooned to short-leg. Bell leaped high and got his fingers to the ball, but he could not hold on to the difficult chance.
Laxman edged a boundary off Anderson at catchable height between second slip and gully, but was otherwise untroubled.
After resuming on 32, he reached 48 when Prior and the England slip cordon went up for what they thought was a catch behind. Captain Andrew Strauss called for a review when umpire Billy Bowden did not react, but the replay showed there was a clear gap between bat and ball.
Laxman reached his 53rd Test half-century with a leg glance to the boundary, his eighth four, but then played a loose shot to Anderson and was caught by Bell at mid-wicket.
Gambhir, who left the field on Sunday in some pain after he was struck on the elbow at short-leg by a sweep shot from Prior, twice leaned back to cut Swann to the boundary.
He was beaten through the air pushing forward to the off-spinner.
Tendulkar, who was applauded all the way as he walked to the crease, was beaten by Anderson’s first ball, which snaked in between bat and pad. He turned the fifth delivery deftly to leg to get off the mark with a boundary.
On Sunday, England made 269 for six declared on the back of Matt Prior’s 103 not out and an unbeaten 74 from Stuart Broad.
It was Prior’s sixth century in 44 Tests and his third in all at Lord’s, where he made 126 not out on debut against the West Indies in 2007.
“I wasn’t really expecting to be batting before lunch,” said Prior, who bats at No. 7. “I was looking at the menu and thinking: ‘I’ll have the rack of lamb, that’ll be nice,’ and there I was taking guard.”
While Tendulkar has yet to make a Test century at Lord’s, Prior now has three of them to his credit.
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