England grind down Indian resistance to win at Lord’s

Set what would have been a world record total of 458 runs to win and with one wicket down overnight, the tourists’ main task was to seek to bat throughout the final day to force the draw.

And to do that, they needed a major innings from either opener Rahul Dravid or their talisman Sachin Tendulkar – who was looking for his hundredth Test hundred in his final Test at Lord’s. Both showed some resistance, but each was eventually dismissed by Anderson and their fellow Indian batsmen did not have the ability to keep out a fired-up England attack. They were eventually dismissed for 261.

It was Dravid who went first, caught behind by Matt Prior off an away-swinger. India 94-2. Two more wickets before lunch saw the Indians go in at 142-4, with Tendulkar joined at the wicket by Suresh Raina, who was to achieve the top score of the innings with 78.

“It was an outstanding Test match and an outstanding performance.” England captain Andrew Strauss

With England’s bowlers firing on all cylinders, Stuart Broad soon trapped Tendulkar in front of the stumps – only to have his confident appeal turned down by umpire Billy Bowden. With the Indians refusing to accept TV rulings on lbw appeals in this series, there was no chance for England to refer the decision.

Tendulkar was clearly not at his best, but continued to show stubborn resistance for another 45 minutes. Then, in the space of three balls, he was dropped at slip by England captain Andrew Strauss and then finally trapped lbw by the impressive Anderson. No doubts this time from Umpire Bowden.

There were to be two more controversial umpiring moments, as Raina survived a stumping appeal and what looked a stone-wall lbw. But England were not to be denied and Anderson – finishing with 5-65 – received stout support from Broad with three wickets and Tremlett and Swann with one apiece, to see England home with 28 overs to spare at shortly before 5.30 on a lovely summer’s evening.

Kevin Pietersen won the man of the match award for his first innings double hundred, but captain Strauss also had warm words at the end for this four front-line bowlers.

“It was an outstanding Test match and an outstanding performance,” he declared.

So England won the world’s 2,000 Test match to go one-up in the four-match series. And if they can achieve a two-match winning margin, they know they will replace India at the top of the world rankings.