England close in on victory

James Anderson
12 April 2012

England took a stranglehold on the historic 2,000th Test with three wickets on a gripping final morning against India at Lord's.

James Anderson removed key figure of Rahul Dravid and returned to send back VVS Laxman for 56, before Graeme Swann added the wicket of Gautam Gambhir.

That left India on 142 for four at lunch as they battled to save the game, with Sachin Tendulkar in position as he began his second and final chance to bring up his hundredth international century at the home of cricket.

Anderson found Laxman's edge with the last ball of the second over but the ball flew safe in the large gap between second slip and gully. The bowler looked frustrated at the lack of catchers and, with so many runs in hand, his ire seemed justified.

Chris Tremlett sent down a superb over to Dravid, beating him twice on the outside edge and forcing a bat-pad chance with the batsman on 35. Ian Bell did well to get a hand to the ball but could not cling on.

Anderson made the breakthrough in the eighth over, tempting the usually cautious Dravid into offering the bat at one outside the off stump. The ball did just enough to snare the edge and Matt Prior took a simple catch to see off the first-innings centurion for 36.

After 10 overs, Andrew Strauss turned to Stuart Broad and Swann. It was the seamer who started strongest, sending down a testing first over and then having a big shout for lbw against Gambhir turned down with one that kept low. The stumps were sure to be shattered but umpire Billy Bowden turned it down, suspecting it pitched a fraction outside leg.

Laxman and Gambhir were doing a good job of easing the tension but Broad thought he had done enough to see off the former on 48. He thought he had taken the edge and when Bowden shook his head, England reviewed the decision. Hot-Spot appeared to show no contact and TV umpire Marais Erasmus backed the on-field decision.

Strauss opted for some puzzlingly defensive fields but, having moved past 50, Laxman helped the England captain by turning an innocuous Anderson bouncer straight to Bell at mid-wicket.

Swann dismissed Gambhir leg before in the following over, bringing Tendulkar to the crease for his second enormous ovation of the game. By lunch he had seven runs and plenty of time to get the 93 he needed to make history.

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